Gives You Hell
by TomiSama04
Summary: Reno and Axel were both surprised with how similar they looked, but were they similar enough to fool Axel's adoring fans and Reno's cut-throat coworkers? AkuNo. CLC. SoRiku. Zemyx.
1. Welcome to Hell

**Gives You Hell**

By: Tomi Sama

**Chapter 1: "Welcome to Hell"**

**Pairings:** Dominate: AkuNo (AkuReno), LeonxCloud, RikuxSora, Zemyx.

Others: Mentions of past AkuRoku, a bit of AkuRiku.

**Warnings:** Yaoi. Which means boy on boy. There's also a lot of Roxas-hatred. I myself LOVE Roxas, but for some reason I like Axel and Reno, at the current moment, even better. Also, mentions of drug use, vulgar language, um… rock and roll?

**Word Count:** 12,059, excluding all the warnings and author's note and such. I hope it's not a lot of filler! ;-; Please tell me if it's boring!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything at all. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or the multiple Final Fantasy characters I mention. I also don't own the songs mentioned in each chapter.

**Author's Note**: This is going to be so weird. This is a fic, based on a fic I'm writing, but haven't posted anywhere. Basically, the other fic is based on the band _Say Anything_'s four albums. This story would take place after the fourth album, if it ended differently. So it's not necessary to read that to know what's going on, I think I do a good job re-explaining things. However: THIS IS NOT THE SAME FIC. It is just based off of it. So when I do post the other one, don't read that one thinking this is what happens in the future, because none of this will happen. Does that make any sense? I think I just confused myself! ;-; Anyway, I guess you can totally disregard that whole author's note, because it doesn't matter until the other fic comes out. Haha.

PS: This is my last shameless promotion for _Say Anything_. Get the music, now, fool! XP They're a great band! Also, I'm NOT Jewish. So if anything's wrong with the multiple mentions of the religion, please let me know. Oh, and I will probably call this my "Hell" series, as all the chapters have the word "Hell" in it. Also, the title and very-very-very vague plotline is based on the music video "Gives You Hell" by the All-American Rejects.

PPS: I'm dedicating this fic to all those people who are fans of AkuNo. There are too few of these fics on the internet, so please, go out there and write some great ones! [Or draw pictures! I love AkuNo pictures!]

PPSS: Please Review!

---

Reno had been saving money his entire life.

Most people didn't think he was the "saving" type, he could be found at the local bars with his coworkers after almost every work day, spending his time and money well into the night. He was also an avid gamer. If anyone was man enough to challenge him at nearly any style game, on any platform, Reno would sweep the floor with the unsuspecting victim. Reno was also a music collector. What he didn't spend on alcohol and video games was surely spent by Wednesday night on his favorite artists latest CD. He'd spent a great deal of money on the discontinued songs his _favorite_ band: _Got it Memorized?_

Luckily, Reno had a pretty cushiony job, working as a Turk (which is a lot faster than saying he worked in the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department, in the Department of Public Safety, and a lot nicer than saying he took care of beatings, kidnappings and assassinations of individuals who were "unfriendly" to the ShinRa electric company which employed him). The pay was very good. There were only a handful of fighters skilled enough in the world to do what he did; they were paid almost like international men of mystery. They were given bonuses if they did extra good on a job, but Reno's light attitude and natural clumsiness kept him from getting bonuses often.

Reno was recruited as a Turk right after high school. He didn't have a college education, but he really never did well enough in school to have gotten into any decent college anyway. It was his pranking throughout high school which interested the ShinRa Company in him: he was never caught, at least if he didn't want to be. He was a skilled enough fighter to where he could defeat the football jocks, if needed, but his force was rarely needed. His way with words, though they seemed uneducated and ungraceful, usually humored people enough to realize he was an okay guy, and that they didn't _want_ to fight him. He used his high school tricks, on steroids, at his every day job.

From the first pay check, at age eighteen, he put a third of his money earned into the bank, spending his money only on necessities. At age twenty-five, Reno had quite a bit saved up. And he grew bored of apartment life.

He decided to get a house.

Rude and Elena thought it was stupid of him. What single man, a man almost incapable of having a relationship last more than two weeks, would invest in a house? Reno thought the answer would be obvious: he was never going to have a steady relationship. If he waited to have a relationship to actually settle down in the Suburbs, he would never go.

He'd looked at a few houses, before he found the one he knew he had to have. On a street without a lot of traffic, stood a line of decent-sized houses with back yards bigger than the house themselves. The one which was for sale was brick, as with its neighbor to the left (while facing the front of the house, on the right while in the back yard, facing the street), while the rest were wood.

It wasn't the biggest house he'd looked at, but it felt like home.

"Why doesn't anyone live here?" Reno asked, standing on the back porch, looking around. His brick-house neighbor to the left had an in-ground pool in the yard. It was really close to the house; the occupant might be able to jump out of a window and into the deep end, if he was crazy (or stupid) enough to try it. On the other side of the yard, with maybe fifty yards in between, there stood a deck. There were lights around it, giving it the appearance of a stage. It looked like a party hot-spot, but all was quiet in the suburbs tonight. There was a shed, too, which was double bolted. Maybe there were thieves in the area. (Not that a Turk was afraid of mere thieves).

The realtor smirked. He was pretty young as well, maybe twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He leaned across the railing of Reno's new house (or what would be his new house, once he officially made an offer).

"These houses go pretty fast. There's a college less than five miles that way," he gestured to the right. "But these houses are too expensive for college kids. Usually people buy them who haven't outlived their glory days and don't mind partying college kids wondering around late at night. Oh, and the neighbor there is in a band, he's still on tour, though, until September. He can throw some pretty wild parties."

Reno didn't mind drunken college kids. It wasn't like he was going to be raising a family or anything; he just wanted a bigger place to keep his shit in… a place with a yard and some new chums to challenge him.

"What do I have to sign?"

---

Reno moved in to his new house in the middle of August, the earliest date possible. Within a week he had everything unpacked and had himself a housewarming party with his friends from work. All of his friends showed, but Vincent Valentine who couldn't make it. Honestly, the man was pretty anti-social; he probably preferred to stay home. They had to admit, the neighborhood was nice and Reno decorated the place nicely, considering he had no idea how to properly decorate a house, and no woman to make it look pretty for him. (Elena's words, if Reno had said the same thing, she would have smacked him for being sexist).

Rufus, the president of ShinRa, enjoyed the game room. After a few beers, he lost two-hundred dollars betting against Reno at Guitar Hero.

For two weeks, Reno spent his time off of work in peace in his home. September first, at four o'clock in the morning, he was awoken to the sound of a horn blaring outside of his house. Wondering what was happening, the redhead made his way to the open window, peering out his curtains to the street.

A black van was pulled to the curb at the brick house next to his. Four guys piled out of the van, laughing and yelling at each other. It was dark, and most of them were wearing black, so he couldn't get a good look at them.

"Shut up, assholes! There's a light on in the empty house!" Reno looked at the man who was gesturing to his own house. Reno caught a flash of bright red hair from under a black beanie, pale skin and white smile shone brightly in the darkness.

"Axel, man!" Another man yelled, unnecessarily loud since he was right beside the redhead, who turned to look at his yelling friend. "You got a new neighbor, dude! We were only gone for two months and the house got sold!" This friend was blond, with a mohawk. Or was it a mullet?

"Maybe it's a hot college chick!" A third man, this one with silver hair, elbowed his friend in the ribs. Reno's breath caught in his throat as he glanced around for the EMR he kept in his room, just in case. That was a Jenova experiment. At first, he thought it was Sephiroth himself, but realized the man with his new neighbor was too short, too thin, and had shorter hair, he relaxed.

This one must be one of the remnants. One of Sephiroth's younger, less successful brothers that were left in his hometown to be raised as normal humans. Poor thing probably was raised with huge abandonment issues.

"After Roxie broke your heart, man, you need a hot chick." The silver-haired man finished.

The fourth member of the band pushed a guitar case and a backpack to the redhead, the other three looking toward Reno's house, into the light in the bathroom window, unknowing that the man was looking out at them in the darkness only two windows over.

"Here, Axel. Get some sleep, okay?" The last man, with long, brown hair said. "You can go introduce yourself to him tomorrow."

"Him?" The silver-haired man said. "Leon, it's gonna be a chick."

"What makes you say that, Riku? Have you met his new neighbor?" The brunet, Leon, countered.

"No, but you don't have to jinx it by saying it's a dude!" Riku yelled back. The other three shushed him.

"Besides, after _Roxie_, I think it's pretty obvious how much Axel wants a chick." The mullethawk man giggled.

"Whatever, Demyx." Riku shrugged.

Suddenly, the van beeped again, causing the four band members to look at their vehicle. The driver's door of the van opened, and another man stuck his head out. He had spiky blond hair, and he made a _'what-the-fuck-let's-hurry-up-guys-I-wanna-get-home'_ look to the other members.

"Speaking of Roxie." Riku laughed. "I think you look like your family, Cloud. Both of the twins."

_Cloud?_ Reno thought. The name sounded familiar.

"I know." Cloud, the blond driving, pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyed. "I swear to God you tell me that every time I leave your sight and then you see me again. Can you guys just get in the fucking van? I'm exhausted."

"_You're_ exhausted. You keep us up all night having loud sex, so don't give us that shit, dude!" Demyx yelled, draping his arm over the redhead's shoulders, both of whom giggled.

"Just because your lover isn't around, Demyx, doesn't mean I'm not going to be with _mine_ because he _is._" Cloud hissed back. "Leon, you coming?"

"As if we hadn't heard that before!" Riku managed to yell out, before doubling over in laughter. Demyx was on the sidewalk, rolling. And Axel high-fived Riku. Cloud got back into the van, slamming the door in annoyance, which made the three other men laugh harder.

Reno was surprised to see that Leon just smirked, not offended in any way by what his bandmates said.

After the laughter died down, Demyx leapt at the Axel, hugging him too tightly to be just friends, they must be blood. Riku lit a cigarette and Leon patted the redhead's shoulder. With their final goodbyes said, the three other boys got into van again, beeping as they drove away. With one more look at his neighbor's house, Axel opened his door and walked inside.

Reno went back to bed, unable to help but think the obvious.

His neighbor looked just like him!

---

Reno was up at seven, but wasn't in the shower until eight. The first hour of every morning, the redhead spent in a daze. He couldn't tell you what he had done if he was tortured. Not that "torture" meant anything to a Turk.

They'd all been tortured by each other, and he didn't mean by Elena's singing (although THAT was more painful than real torture). He meant, well, real torture: with knives and water-boarding and salt to rub in the wounds. The company needed to know how much a candidate can take before they crack before they'll give them the job.

It took a lot for Reno to snap under pressure.

But he hated being up this early, dressed and around by nine, on a Saturday morning, but if he didn't get up early on Saturday, he would stay up late and sleep all day Sunday. Which meant he would sleep through most of Monday. Putting his hair back, he admired his handy work in the mirror. In a red-color that matched his hair, he had drawn lines to the side of each eye. He'd always figured he would get them tattooed (he'd been putting the make-up on since he was sixteen, so it's not like he was worried he wouldn't like them), but he'd just never gotten around to it.

The redhead didn't need to be tortured to admit he looked damn good. Maybe it was his rather-large ego that kept him from holding a girlfriend for more than two weeks. Maybe they just didn't have an ego to match and counter his.

The doorbell rang.

Reno kicked his shoes, both his work-required dress shoes and the converse all-stars he wore on the weekends, to the side of the door before pulling it open, flashing his visitor a lopsided grin. Why wouldn't he? It had to be Rude, making sure he was up (or coming over to play Resident Evil 5 with him, as he had for the past two weekends).

But it wasn't Rude.

If Reno thought his neighbor looked like him last night, he thought he opened the door to look into a mirror this morning. Apparently, the other man thought the same. He all but dropped the plate he'd been holding, mouth opened slightly to gape at the uncanny resemblance they had to one another.

It would be easier to name the differences.

Their hair was the same shade of red, but Reno's was longer. The Turk's hair went to his mid-back, while the Rockstar's hair went to his shoulder blades: maybe a three inch difference. Reno kept his hair pulled back, the top sticking up wildly and uncontrollably. Axel's hair was spiked back, resembling a palm tree: palm fanning, Reno thought it was called.

Reno's eyes were blue; Axel's eyes were emerald.

Reno had red eyeliner to the side of his eyes; Axel had black eyeliner directly under his eyes, in a diamond-shape.

To an extent, they even had similar clothing.

Both had on black pants, ones that would look dressy, if not for their tightness. Axel had a white belt, Reno had a black stud belt. Axel had a tight green shirt on, with a black heart on it, the word _Heartless_ written in beautiful font inside the heart. Over that, he wore a dark-denim colored jacket, slightly too short to be of any practical use. Unless one would consider showing off his thin frame "practical," but to Reno, the word meant that the jacket would be useless to keep the man warm, had it been cold out. The sleeves had been rolled up, just above his elbows.

He had a tattoo on his right forearm. Up the vein, written in small, but beautiful font (like dancing fire), were the words "Born of Fire" Under it, "As the Phoenix." In the corner there was a flame, and from the flame burst a bird. It was all small, lineart. There was no color.

Reno was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, long enough to be "practical" but slightly too tight to be "comfortable." The shirt was also pushed up, just below his elbows. He had a light blue t-shirt on over it. At first glance, it looked like a white skull with black eyes, nose and mouth. Reno saw Axel's eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated, seeing the true design instead. A girl (the nose), walking across wood planks of a pier (the mouth), to a boy who was sitting down. The girl and the boy were both holding balloons (the eyeballs).

Axel grinned, approving of the shirt. Reno felt accomplishment, for some reason, as if he had made the shirt himself (which he didn't). He bought it off of Threadless, where he got most of his witty non-working torso coverers. This one was called _"Bye Bye Apocalypse."_

"Holy shit, do we look like brothers, or what?" Reno's neighbor questioned. The shorter redhead wasn't sure if he was being rhetorical or not, so he just laughed.

"Sorry, dude." The slightly taller redhead standing outside brushed his forehead, slightly, as if he were tucking hair behind his ears. However, nothing had been in his face to begin with. Unlike Reno, the other man's bangs stuck upward and back. It must be a self-conscious human habit, deriving from the caveman days when humans needed to show their eyes to communicate. Axel's green eyes grinned sheepishly, as if embarrassed by his own outburst.

"I meant to say, 'Hey, new neighbor, my names Axel, what's yours?' but… damn."

Reno extended his hand, smiling. "Reno."

The other man went to extend his hand in return, only to remember the plate in his hands. In lieu of his hand, he extended the plate. Cookies!

"I baked them this morning."

"Didn't you sleep?" Reno took them, taking one in his hand, instantly bringing it to his mouth. "I saw you get in at four this morning. You'd been gone since I moved in… so how did you even have the ingredients to _make_ cookies?"

Axel shrugged. "Mom stopped by yesterday to restock my food. And yes, I did sleep." He put his hands on his hips, leaning forward, almost teasingly. "Why weren't you asleep at such an ungodly hour?"

Reno wanted to answer, but he couldn't help but shove the rest of the cookie in his mouth, purely amazed by the rockstar's baking talents. Axel took note of it with a grin on his face, muttering something about his grandma's famous recipe.

When Reno had swallowed, he grabbed two more cookies before he sat the plate on the railing on his front porch. He offered Axel one, but the redhead stated he had more at his house. Reno was all too happy to eat them both himself.

"I was up at four am, because your bandmate beeped a horn." Reno had to assert a lot of self control to keep him from licking the crumbs from his fingers.

"Sorry we woke you up." Axel sounded sincere, but a smirk formed, unable to deny the fact that he enjoyed the thought of waking up the neighborhood at any chance he had.

"No worries. Window was open. I heard you talking." Realizing how stalkerish and… rude of him this sounded, he added. "I mean, you guys were yelling. So, it's not like I was…" If you have to admit to someone you're not stalking them, you are.

Axel apparently didn't see it that way. Of course, a rockstar like him dealt with stalkers way worse than Reno. "I'll have to yell at them." The taller redhead mused, leaning back against the railing, still grinning. Was he _flirting_? Reno wondered.

"It's okay. I'm a light sleeper."

Axel winced, looking away, but didn't comment on his thoughts. Instead, he turned back to his host.

"So… you must think we're all idiots then."

Reno wondered, "Why?"

"At four in the morning after spending ten hours in a fucking van with nobody but each other for company, the most intelligent people in the world start talking about anything to keep from boring themselves to death."

Reno shook his head, as if to say _no, I didn't hear anything_. Of course, he had heard everything. Part of his Turk training meant going a step beyond hearing what other people said, but to truly analyze it. He could tell a lot about each band member, from the five minute encounter he had witnessed in the dark.

Cloud, the driver and Leon, the dark haired guy, are dating. Reno would bet for a long time, though, probably since band was small-time. They're probably not public; gays in a band (especially dating each other) wouldn't do anything to promote sales. For the most part, their stoic nature left them closed to Reno's expertise. But everyone had a weakness, give Reno a month and he'd know what it was.

Demyx, blond mullethawk guy, is Axel's family. Probably cousin, but last night he thought step-brother. Upon Axel saying his mother re-stocked his refrigerator for him, Reno had changed his mind. Only a caring mother would do that (Reno's wouldn't, and he thought she had been caring), which means they put a lot of emphasis on family values. Which means, his parents are likely still together. Demyx doesn't look enough like Axel to be immediate family, but he was too intimate to not be family. Final guess on Demyx: cousin.

Riku, the silver-haired dude, was a Jenova. He was emotionally attached to Cloud. His tone suggested a more brotherly way of mocking him, than a friend would. But he's also attached to Axel, more so than he would be willing to let on. He hoped Reno was a girl, so Axel could get over his last lover, Roxie. As a side note, Reno thought Riku was using drugs. If he wasn't using heroin, he had gotten clean within the last six months, and had been a very active user for a long time before.

He specifically didn't pick up too much on Axel, though he was sure the conversation would have given him enough to know more about him. He hated over-analyzing people who would be more fun to get to know. People like himself, and Rude and Rufus. People like Axel.

"I didn't hear what you were talking about. Just heard yelling. I'm pretty unobservant in the morning."

Axel nodded, that would make sense, after all. After a moment of comfortable silence, in which Reno grabbed yet another cookie, Axel kicked off the railing, unfolding his arms from his chest to extend a hand to Reno.

This time, they shook hands.

"Not to deliver a package and run, but I've gotta get going back home. We're having a 'Welcome Home' party tonight. You're more than welcome to come, by the way, to any of the parties we have going on out in the back. But I gotta make sure everything's around for it." The redhead left his new neighbor's doorstep, before cutting through their yards, jogging up the steps to his own front porch.

"Welcome home." Reno yelled across the lawn.

Opening his door, smiling, Axel yelled back. "Welcome to the neighborhood." Before slamming the door behind him. Reno picked up his plate of cookies, and followed suit into his own house.

---

"It's a boy." Axel said to his cell phone. The cell phone laughed at him.

"_Figures, huh?" _Another chuckle. _"Yazoo, can I have this piece of cake?"_

"Focus, Riku." Axel said. "You jinxed me. He's cute. He seems like he's nice, too. And funny."

"_Everyone's nice and funny after dating someone like Roxie. Honestly, he's got the personality of a PMSing cat in heat. He makes you fuck him then he fucks with your head. I don't think I've seen him happy in…"_

"_Years!"_ A different voice on Riku's side of the phone cut in.

"_Years." _Riku agreed. _"But Sora, you should be nice to your brother."_

"_I'm nice enough to him. To his face. I was told to pick loyalties, remember, just like Cloud? Blood isn't thicker than money. Cloud stayed with you because he wanted to be famous and I stayed with you because I'm your manager and I want to be rich."_

"_Aw, Sora. You didn't stay with me because you love me?"_

"Can you guys fucking focus for ten seconds? Fuck." Axel rubbed the bridge of his nose, a habit he picked up from Leon. "I invited him to our party tonight. So… act normal, okay?"

"_What's normal, Axel? And who the fuck are you to tell us how to act like it in your almighty normalness."_

Riku had a good point. Normal had never been a word that accurately described any of them.

"_So, he's cute?" _Sora said. Chomping could be heard. Cake should not make chomping noise like that. _"What's he look like?"_

"Aw, never mind about that." Axel rubbed his head, looking out his window, to Reno's house. Any time someone brought Roxas up, the lead singer would get depressed. It was hard for him not to be brought up, though, because he was their bassist and their manager's brother. Not to mention Roxas Strife, a pop icon himself, was a common household name to all teenagers. Not that any of the band members were still teenagers, even the Sora and Roxas (the youngest of their friends) were twenty-one.

It was at the Strife twins' birthday party, three months ago, that Axel last saw his on-again-off-even-more-often boyfriend. They had been broken up for about four months before then, for some stupid-ass reason nobody, including Axel, understood. The party was the first time since their last break up they had spoken to each other. They had sex in a room above the bar. Roxas yelled someone else's name as he came. You know how those things go.

For the first time, it felt like it was really over. It was… refreshing. Axel had all but been forbidden to move on with his life. Every time he started to get a steady boyfriend during an "off" time with Roxas, the blond boy would show back up, surprise!, and they'd be dating again long enough for Axel's heart to be ripped out with Roxas broke it off… again.

Three months ago, as Roxas yelled _"Hayner!"_ as he came (though Axel would bet Roxas _knew_ who he was yelling for, and did it just to piss Axel off), things seemed definitely over. He rarely even thought of the blond… unless he saw Cloud or Sora… or if he played the songs he wrote for the blond. Which meant, he thought about Roxas all the fucking time. The two elder Strife brothers were always around and eighty percent of their songs were about him.

"_Don't get like that, Axel. If he's cute, you should make a move."_

"Why bother, I mean. Roxas is still on tour for another two weeks, but when he gets done, if he finds out I'm dating someone he'll be right back in my lap again." Axel ran his hand through his hair. "I hate being used by him. I can't fucking say no."

"_Fuck that!"_ Riku yelled. _"This semester you're through!"_ They talked in terms of four semesters a year. They were entering the fall semester now. Demyx and Leon went to the local college. They were given one semester a year for schooling, the other three were left to the band.

Both were music majors, as Axel had been when he spent a semester there when he was eighteen. They didn't like Axel's music, and the band had gotten signed by the Organization their senior year of high school, so Axel didn't feel the need to change his style for them. Demyx was an orchestra composition major. Leon was a piano performance major. Both had great grades.

"_Get a restraining order. Get Cloud and Leon to watch your door so the bitch can't get in. Although, as forethought, don't let them be your guard dogs together, or you might get them having sex on your front porch _and_ Roxie to deal with."_

"_You caught them having sex once, Riku. Like, a year and a half ago…"_

"_Yeah, but in my defense, Spiky got old _fast_. Especially dating you. Then we were thinking of calling Cloud an alcoholic, except that wouldn't be funny… because he really _is_ an alcoholic."_

"…_They don't even hold hands in public!" _Sora didn't mention his brother's alcohol consumption. He'd always been a drinker; he had been since he was a teenager. _"Why do you mock them so badly when you've been more public with Axel on stage?"_

"_Why do you gotta bring up the customary kiss, Sora. The girlies love it when I kiss Axel."_

"_I _know_ they love it. I enjoy it, too. You're both hot; kissing each other would_ therefore_ be hot. Just lay off Cloud and Leon. They're private people."_

Axel felt like crying. Figuratively. Sora and Riku weren't really fighting. Fucking God himself shivered in Heaven when Sora was on a rampage, but this polite back and forth bickering like fucking _school children_ (or worse, an old married couple) drove Axel completely insane. Mostly, though, because it meant they had to resolve their problem before they could focus on Axel's again. Nine times out of ten, Axel wouldn't call Riku for advice. He would call Leon. But, this one time, it had been Riku who expressed interest in the matter the night before. That was the only reason he had called.

"Roxas never liked the kissing, Riku. He said if I kissed you I was cheating on him." It was a low tactic he only used in really necessary occasions: bring up Roxas. Roxas was a pity card. Instantly conversation turned back to Axel. _'Aw, poor baby has wasted five years on a fucking bastard, I'm sorry Axel.'_

"_That's only because the fucking slut was jealous of me. I mean, I'm fucking hot. I wouldn't want my boyfriend kissing me, either."_ And of course, the pity card didn't ever work with Riku.

"_Then I'll stop kissing you."_

"_Fucking shut your mouth, Sora. Or I'll shut it for you."_

"_Challenge accepted."_

Axel hung up when he heard the sound of kissing from the other end, tossing the cell phone onto the couch. He didn't really need advice, he determined. He just wanted to tell someone about his neighbor. How he looked like a long-lost brother. How it was that Reno guy he'd heard so much about.

His entire life, people had been calling him "Reno," and Axel didn't know why.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Reno he'd wanted to meet him since he was sixteen. The first time he had been mentioned was when he and Riku were going to buy pot on the crappy side of town. (Though Reno would have been eighteen, when Axel was sixteen, so he would have still been in high school, too). The pot dealer thought he was a man named Reno, and gave him a discount. As he grew up, and grew out his hair, people said it more often. On the rare occasion that Axel would bring his brother Vincent something at the SinRa electric company, people always yelled, "Hey, Reno, get back to work!" or if he went to a bar, something he rarely did, he would hear, "What're ordering that for, Reno? That's not your drink."

His _entire_ life, he had been compared to a man he'd never met. A Turk, like his brother. Someone who truly mattered to society. Someone who kept them safe at night, instead of playing loud music, keeping people up.

Did Axel regret being a rockstar? No, he saved the souls of a bunch of people. Saved them from what, (the burning flames of hell or the tedious rays of heaven) he didn't know. But Reno, like his brother Vincent, was a man doing some real good in the world. They were real heroes.

(Vincent might have lied a little bit, when he told his parents and little brother what a Turk does, exactly.)

Just because Axel didn't regret becoming a rockstar, didn't mean he still didn't want to live as a Turk – a hero. With the cranks turning in his pretty head, Axel grinned. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone: get rid of Roxas _and_ become a Turk. He would just have to get the stone to agree to help the redhead kill the birds.

---

The internet was beyond useful.

When he thought the statement, Reno thought it meant "the internet was so useful, it went to a step beyond useful, meaning… even more useful that the word useful could mean." But as he searched for the information he desired, he realized what that statement actually meant.

The internet was beyond useful. It started out useful. The intent of the internet was to make information gathering easier. As he typed in his neighbor's first name _("Shit, I don't know his last name.")_, he realized how "useful" the internet was.

…_Axel is a Scandinavian and German masculine name…_

…_the Axel jump is a figure skating move with a forward take-off…_

…_Crazy Frog – Axel F…_

… _Porn star Misty Axel's new movie…_

There was so much usefulness to the internet, it made it almost useless.

Eventually, Reno switched google web search to google image search. Under "Axel" the man who was his neighbor was the first five pictures, breaking to a picture of a cat for one, then resumed more pictures of the man. Most of them were pictures fans had taken from the crowd. Most of the times, the lead singer was, in fact, singing. In one picture, he had a strange shaped guitar (almost like a Chakram, Reno had some Chakrams in his gaming room. They weren't his weapon of choice, but he preferred them over swords, which he also had in his gaming room).

The picture he clicked on had the entire band. Demyx was laying down in the front, hands on his stomach, rolling onto one side, almost dying with laughter. Axel was sitting with his back against a porch's railing. One leg out in front on him, one knee to his chest, with his arms wrapped around his knee. His head was tossed back, laughing as though he hadn't been ready for the picture at all. Riku was sitting behind Axel, on a railing on the porch they were on. He had one hand on his knee, the other gripping the medal railing as if his life depended on it, as he hunched forward, doubled over in laughter.

Next to Riku stood Leon, who had a smirk on his face, but wasn't the type to laugh like the others. His arms were crossed and his back was leaned against the wall to the house. His foot was up against the wall for balance. He was smirking at Cloud, who was sitting down on a white bench, looking away from all of them, eyes in a glare, hands bunched into fists at his knees. Cloud looked like the type of guy who could kick your ass any day of the week and think nothing of it. He was not the type of guy anyone would pick on who wanted to see tomorrow.

At first, Reno couldn't understand the picture. Why would a band (on their homepage, Reno found out looking at the website he'd just clicked on to) put such a picture on their page? It promoted bullying, at best. It embarrassed a friend. But then he realized; this is what the band is about. They're five friends, who pick on each other and drink beer and play video games, just like him and Rude.

Upon entering the website, he learned the band name.

Got it Memorized?

Reno almost face-palmed. Instead, his jaw dropped and he whipped around in the chair, turning to face Axel's house. Peering out his window, and into his neighbors', he saw the redhead on the phone, facing away from him.

_No way._ Reno thought. _No fucking way did I move into the house next to the lead singer of my favorite band_.

In Reno's defense, he was into their music. Their album covers never had pictures of the band, because they were always concept albums and the cover had to do with the concept as well. He had no idea what the lead singer's name is, he'd never seen a picture of him.

All he knew was that Vincent was listening to it one day in the office, a few years ago, and Reno fell in love with the voice and the music.

He was fucking subscribed to their twitter account, for fuck's sake! They were supposed to start recording in January for their new album and Reno was fucking _living_ next door to the band. Reno was not, ever, prone to fangirling. He would never let someone who meant a lot to him let them know how much they mattered.

Instantly, he decided he would not, under any circumstances, become friends with Axel Valentine. The music meant too much to him. Were Axel to turn out to be a total douche bag, Reno would be unable to enjoy his favorite band. And because he was never to become friends with Axel, clearly a friendly guy as he made him cookies, he would never go to one of his parties.

He would never go over to his house.

And he would never, _ever_, think about Axel. Not while having dinner, not while listening to _Got it Memorized?_ and definitely not while he was jacking off. This time, Reno _did_ face-palm. He then proceeded to smack himself in the head, repeatedly. When a thought like that got into his head, it wouldn't leave.

The redhead thought about calling Rude, maybe get him to lose some bucks betting on a game of pool. Maybe he could get his bald friend to spar with him. In their earlier years, when they had been paired up as partners, they would spend hours beating each other in the ShinRa gym. Once they learned each other's tactics and techniques, training became unnecessary. Well, Rude was always training. As Reno's partner, he must dodge Reno's attacks, while fighting the bad guys. The bald man had taken an EMR to the face one too many times, accidentally, to be funny anymore.

But then he'd have to go outside. Strangely, he wanted to keep Axel a secret. Not that Rude would get all giddy and embarrass him; Rude didn't listen to that kind of music. He just… wanted time to think about what he should do.

Reno decided to lock himself in the house, pulled the shades and try to analyze himself. What the hell should he do?

---

It was a Saturday, so who really cared that it was two in the afternoon when he started drinking? Reno sure as fuck didn't. He was confused. He had never been confused in his entire life! He avoided labels, so he wouldn't have troubles breaking taboos. Because of this, he nearly didn't have a moral conscious. There was no "right" or "wrong" with him. Nothing was philosophy.

Who the fuck cares which came first, the chicken or the egg? As long as Reno had scrambled eggs for breakfast and chicken wings for dinner, Reno couldn't fucking care less which came first.

Usually, alcohol calmed the redhead, but today, it seemed to infuriate him. He'd spent all morning playing guitar hero, working out and playing pool, trying to keep his mind off the other redhead. He wasn't confused about his sexuality. He never had been, he simply ignored that "sexuality" could be an issue. Eventually, it stopped freaking Tseng out when Reno half-heartedly, jokingly flirted with him. Reno had been with a guy before, that wasn't the issue he was having.

But he couldn't deny the confusion.

What the fuck was he feeling?

He was paid to shut himself off. If he was torturing someone, or killing someone, he couldn't think about their feelings. He couldn't admit to himself that the person (often called "the package") had a wife, or a husband, or children. Although Elena and Tseng could have an active social life, and feel when they were off the job, Reno never could.

That's why he couldn't hold down a relationship.

He eventually looked out the window, when he heard yelling from next door.

Reno was a master at hiding in the shadows, peeking out behind curtains and spying. Spying on a bunch of rockstars wasn't hard, especially since most of them didn't seem too bright. He just kept low, letting only his eyes peek out.

His bedroom had a great view of the front yard, but his home office had a great view of the back. With a beer in hand (and occasionally to his lips), Reno watched the rockstars set up for their welcome home fiesta.

Axel had changed his clothes. He had on black basketball shorts and a black beater, making him look ridiculously pale in comparison. The rest of the band dressed similarly. Leon had on leather pants and a white beater. Riku and Cloud both went without shirts. Cloud had on jeans, Riku had on shorts that if a girl had been wearing them, would be Capri's in length. Riku and Leon both had their hair up. Demyx was absent.

Cloud had a tattoo on his back of wings; one an angel's wing, one a demon wing. Reno didn't understand it yet, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know about the quiet blond. He also had a tattoo of a wolf over his left shoulder. Leon had a tattoo of a lion head on his bicep. It was lineart, with no color, but it was beautifully done.

Riku had a small Paopu fruit tattooed over his heart, but Reno was surprised with the lack of tattoos him. Knowing four members of the band had tattoos, the redhead wondered if Demyx did as well. What was it with guys in bands and their need to permanently mark their skin?

"Help me carry this, Leon."

Leon and Riku were setting up a drum set. Cloud was making trips back and forth from the now-unlocked shed, carrying band equipment on stage. Axel had his arms crossed, looking nervous and occasionally barking orders. He had a can of Amp in his hand. At one point, he took a sip too quickly and dumped it on himself. (Riku called him a dumbass). The redhead ignored him and wiped the sticky substance from his face using his shirt. Frustrated, he turned and walked away, giving Reno a nice shot of his bare stomach. The spying redhead (who had gotten binoculars half an hour ago), was quick to look, because the glance didn't last long.

On his right hip, he had a tattoo of a heart. It was a nicely drawn heart style, not boring, the same one as his shirt had been this morning. There were wings coming off the heart, dancing lowly over his hip bone, some feathers hidden by his shorts. It made gave any observer (in this case, Reno), the uncontrollable desire to see the rest of the tattoo: for what was resting on the redhead's slender hips to be forcefully removed. A sex illusion.

Inside the heart, was a Roman-Numeral VIII. Eight must be his favorite number.

"Hey, dudes!"

Four men turned their eyes to Axel's house. Reno quickly and stealthily switched windows, so he had a view of the side of Axel's house and swimming pool. The blond walked out of the back door, sliding the glass shut behind him. He had a violin and a bow tucked under one arm, but when he turned to walk toward his friends, he held the violin by its neck and the bow in the correct way to hold the instrument. In his right hand, he also held a piece of paper.

"I was doing some homework in there, 'cause I didn't do it on tour when I was supposed to from last semester. I had to write a violin solo for a concerto that's based on a Motzart…" seeing the impatient looks on his friends face he added, "… it doesn't matter. So anyway, I was writing this concerto and I thought it sounded really cool and I thought you might want to use it on the next album, Axel." (Reno ran back to the other window, as Demyx moved too far to see from that window.) "I wanted to check before I handed it in, because then I'd get in trouble for plagiarizing my own stuff. I know, it's stupid but my professors made it clear I can't do orchestrated versions of our songs. They say I won't learn that way and…"

Axel took the sheet music out of his hand, reading it in his head.

"Is it in four-four time? Why didn't you write a key?" Axel looked annoyed, shoving the paper back at his cousin.

Demyx took the paper, putting the violin under his arm, taking the paper back. He grabbed the pencil from behind his ear. Axel turned around and using his back, his cousin wrote the time and key. By the time he was done and handed the paper back to Axel, the other three members of the band walked over.

Reno didn't play an instrument; he'd never been creative enough to play something like that. He couldn't create anything of his own. Keeping time hitting his hand against his leg, Axel started thinking the melody in his head. Demyx was grinning, knowing that his cousin would like it (or he wouldn't have brought it to him in the first place.) Leon was reading over Axel's shoulder.

Even the stoic brunet was smiling, slightly, at the tune in his head.

"Play it, Demyx. I can't read sheet music if it's not for the drums. Cloud can't read sheet music at all."

"Fuck off, Riku!" Cloud spat, crossing his arms. "Most people in a band can't read sheet music. You should be fucking grateful I know what the chords are. Remember, I'm just the fucking bassist."

Demyx smiled. "You're our fucking bassist, though, Cloud." The curse sounded foreign on the blond's lips. He brought his violin up to his chin, strumming a chord with his bow before saying. "Hold it up for me, Axe."

Axel held the music up to Demyx, though it seemed pretty obvious he didn't really need it to be able to play the tune.

For a minute and a half, it couldn't have been longer, though it felt like forever, Demyx played his new song on the violin. Without the guitar, drums and singing, Reno wasn't quite to know what to make of it. It sounded like classical music to him. When Riku grabbed Axel's shoulders and shook violently, after the blond returned the instrument under his arm, Reno realized he'd just heard a song on their new album.

Axel nodded, grinning.

"Fucking good, Demyx. Don't turn it in as homework, I want that to myself."

Demyx beamed. Apparently, Axel didn't praise his band mates for their work unless it was a damn good job.

Axel crossed his arms, smirking as if he himself had written the music. "What time is it?"

"Three in the afternoon." Leon checked his watch.

"Party starts at seven?"

"Yup."

"How long will it take you to get around?" Axel asked, though it seemed he was directing it at Riku.

"It always takes you longer to get around for a show than it does us." Riku said, running his hand through his hair. "Are you around? I see you have the utmost fashion sense in the current moment. You look like a baller."

Demyx giggled, it was frightening. "You looked good this morning, Axel. Before you changed. Why don't you wear that?" Reno agreed, although he had to admit that he hadn't witnessed anyone rock the 'working bum' look as well as Axel was.

"I probably will." Axel seemed uninterested in any talk of _'This Morning.'_ Riku, Leon and Cloud already tried to get the redhead to speak of it. "And my hair's already done. It shouldn't take me more than an hour."

Leon checked his watch again. "We have to eat, too. We can spare two hours to play with the song."

Riku reached into his back pocket, grabbing drumsticks. Reno hadn't even seen them before. The silver-haired man started drumming against Cloud's arm. The blond decided if he ignored it, it would go away faster than if he yelled. "Let's go to the studio!"

Within seconds the band was inside, and Reno was left with no entertainment. He lifted his bottle to his lips, almost whimpering pathetically.

He was out of beer, too.

---

At six-ten, Reno heard the sound of feedback from speakers. He grabbed a new beer and ran up to his favorite window in his home office, the one overlooking his neighbor's back yard. They were apparently all "dressed" and around. Axel was wearing the same outfit from before. Riku had on faded, ripped jeans and a yellow, sleeveless vest, with a black X over his chest. Leon only threw on a leather jacket, but kept the same clothes as earlier. Cloud put on black pants and a zip-up, sleeveless navy vest. Demyx had on black pants with blue shirt. It was cute, it was a rain cloud crying.

"Is the Mic on?" Axel said into the microphone. It was. He was drinking water now. The sugar, Reno knew from singing on Guitar Hero: World Tour, made it hard to sing. Reno couldn't drink any caffeinated, sugary drink (Moutnain Dew products were the worst), before singing, or his voice stuck and broke. Axel grabbed the mic off the stand and sang, "Riku likes to have sex with little boys."

"Fuck you, dude. I'm younger than you and Roxie is younger than Sora. That means you have sex with even younger children. You pervert." Riku checked out his drums, hitting at them to make sure they sounded alright. "How's it sound out, there, Sora?"

Reno hadn't seen the brunet walk up. Pretty short, especially in comparison to Axel, spiky brown hair. He had on a black hoody and khaki shorts. He gave the drummer a thumbs up.

Axel hopped around a bit, almost as if he was testing the stability of the stage. He marched over to Demyx and sang, "Demyx hasn't ever had sex."

The blond played a short riff on the guitar, looking down at his fingers while he played. He looked up at Sora, who gave Demyx a thumbs up as well. He leaned forward, into the microphone set up before him and said: "No comment." Sora laughed.

The redhead jumped onto an amp, apparently testing his own agility. "Leon tops Cloud."

Cloud yelled into his microphone, "That one fucking time! Would you be giving him shit of you found us having sex and he was bottoming?"

"That's disgusting." Sora said, shivering. "To think that my big brother takes it up the ass."

"You fucking take it up the ass, too, Sora." Cloud spat back. Riku giggled.

"Can you please just check your amp, Cloud? Although I was clearly giving Leon the go-ahead; if you're going to be _anal_ about the order, you can just go first. Fuck."

The blond plucked a few notes, trying his damn hardest to not attack somebody, whether Axel or Sora, Reno wasn't sure. When Cloud's test had finished, Axel held the microphone to his mouth, to give Leon his go-ahead.

Leon leaned into the microphone and cut Axel off before the redhead could say anything. "Can you not make a joke about me and Cloud having sex when you tell me its okay to check my equipment, Axel? I mean, I understand it's funny for you guys, but it's not for me and Cloud."

Cloud gave the rest of the band a self-satisfied smirk.

"Especially me. It's really affecting my sex life. He feels he has to over-compensate. I'm not saying he's raping me, but my ass can't take another turn on the bottom without a roll on the top."

Cloud looked horrified. The youngest three members of the band were rolling on the ground with laughter. Sora looked as if he was going to be sick and kept mumbling between giggles about his brother being a rapist.

After almost ten minutes of laughing (in which time, Leon checked his guitar, his keyboard, his trumpet _and_ his microphone to make sure they were all working properly, and he and Cloud had a hushed conversation the other four men couldn't hear over their own laughing), they were all on their feet again.

Axel said, "We need an anthem, a slow song and one of our own. Pick."

"Sex on Fire." Leon said. "Kings of Leon, man. Awesome band name. I wish we'd picked it first."

"Slow jam?"

"Can we do Durch den Monsun?" Demyx asked, almost shyly. "Then you can work on your German, too. In case you want to do Schrei tonight. Or something by Rammstein."

Axel gave him an angry look. "There's nothing wrong with my German, Saukerl. I was raised on it just like you and the Aryan Brotherhood that is the Strife family."

"Arschgesicht." Cloud muttered. "Just because two-thirds of us have blond hair and all three of us have blue eyes doesn't mean we're in the Aryan Brotherhood. All the German I know I learned from the two of you."

"And they're all curse words." Leon joked.

Cloud gave him a serious look, "They only ever swear at me."

Axel dismissed the conversation with a wave of his hand. "One of our songs. Cloud or Riku. Pick."

"Sorry, Dudes. My Bad." Both said at the same time. All of the members of the band were vocal on that song, so it seemed it was the unanimous favorite song.

The redhead nodded. "Remember the playlist. Blend it together, no stopping. Go."

It started with Demyx playing the guitar riff. Leon came in with supporting at the same time that Cloud and Riku came in as well. It took a couple of seconds for them to get into it, but when Sora flipped a switch, turning the lights on, so the band couldn't see off the stage, all five members were into the music.

"_Lay where you're laying, don't make a sound  
I know they're watching, they're watching  
All the commotion, the kiddie like play  
Has people talking, talking"_

Although Axel's normal singing voice wasn't anything like the singer from Kings of Leon. Axel stayed low, surprising Reno with the man's ability to mimic the other singer's style. From the first word, Reno had goosebumps. He'd been listening to this band for years, and he was watching them perform, he was living next door to the lead singer. A man he'd come to idolize for all his struggles, for his addictions and his problems, a man he'd never looked at. A man who could be his younger brother, his fucking twin, if you wanted to look at it like that.

Although Reno doubted he could ever get on stage and walk around, so confident in himself and his friends, singing his heart out, he could probably fool a handful of fans. They could probably switch places.

The thought of being a rockstar was exhilarating. He could only imagine what being loved and adored for a living must feel like, as opposed to being a paid, government-legalized criminal.

"_You, your sex is on fire."_

Axel had a strong voice. The voice alone had never done _this_, while listening to the CD. Watching Axel spread his arms, only to bring them close to his body again and run his hand down his torso, seductively, hand barely touching his lap as he leaned forward, sticking his butt out a little bit. Reno was angry to realize the effect it had on him so suddenly. He put his hand on his own lap, annoyed.

Angry and annoyed, but excited and impressed.

Demyx double strummed the ending of the song. The switch happened so fast, Reno wouldn't have been sure it happened at all if Riku hadn't dampened the cymbals before changing pace entirely. The new song had a totally different feel to it, it was slower, and while Axel wasn't singing, he turned around to face the band, open his mouth and wipe it (most likely cracking his jaw, a horrible habit that would probably result in a lot of expensive dental work), then turn around to face the non-existent crowd.

"_Das fenster öffnet sich nicht mehr  
Hier drin' ist es voll von dir - und leer"_

Reno never took a foreign language in high school, and with a gun pointed at their head, everyone he needed to communicate with understood the English he was saying. However, he had heard Hitler's speeches in school, he'd heard German words being spat at a crowd, compelled by the orator, but the language itself sound dirty. Well, before he'd heard Axel speak it.

If he'd known German was the language of angels, he would have learned it sooner.

What surprised Reno the most about the slow song, was how Axel changed completely while singing it. Before, his denim jacket looked badass. Axel could kick your ass, but still look sexy while doing it. It made the "Born of Fire" tattoo make sense. The redhead was a rock god.

Reno had been surprised by the heart tattoo, on Axel's hip, but suddenly, that made sense, too.

Axel never really looked at the crowd. He was always fully into his performance. Has hand would rise to the sky, he'd hold it to his heart, leaning forward, singing to someone he loved who might not even been in the crowd. Instead of badass, he looked sensual, almost girly.

He looked _thinner_. His eyeliner (on his eyes, not on his cheeks) looked as if it were a stage decoration on the first song. Now it looked fitting; it looked like he had more on. He looked like he was looking higher. Reno knew the lights would be too much to see through, but he _felt_ the piercing emerald gaze on him. As if he knew Reno was watching, and he was going to shamelessly flirt with him all night, knowing that it meant nothing. Axel was a performer. Everyone in the crowd (or in the crowd that would be there tonight), felt the same thing.

It made Reno's heart ache.

"_Durch den monsun  
Dann wird alles gut"_

The last few notes of the song, Axel made air guitar motions. He looked like he was ready to clap, be excited about the song; he apparently thought they did really well. But with a tap on the snare and a few guitar notes, Axel was already into a third persona. This one was the one he was most comfortable with. This one was himself.

_"It's too much to do on my own  
My friends I need you now."_

He gestured outward. His friends. His band. He kept time with his foot, on the same beat as Riku's snare hits. He didn't look girly anymore. He didn't look badass. He just looked like the guy who'd given him cookies earlier, the one who joked with his friends, the one who got excited at the new material.

The younger redhead could imamate the best of them, but he was the best as himself.

Axel sat down on the amp, looking defeated, dejected. The redhead looked at Demyx when his cousin began speaking to him.

_"Dude, I know you've got your problems, we all do.__  
I'm here with you, man. We've been this band forever.  
Don't let it go, man."_

Axel smiled a little bit, then looked at Riku when he started talking.

_"Axe, I will sell you this Xanax for five dollars.__  
And then we can go to the waffle house and talk about aliens.  
It'll be chronic!"_

The redhead looked even more cheerful, he stood up, turning around to face Cloud.

_"Cause if you want it, then come and get it.  
We're all with you now. We're all with you now."_

Their voices were pretty similar, but Leon cut in.

_"Cause if you think it, than you can make it.  
We're all with you now. We're all with you."_

When Leon had said "think it," he tapped his pointer finger to the side of his head. It was the trademark _Got it Memorized?_ hand gesture. Axel started singing again, his thank you to his friends.

He started with Riku, standing at the three feet away, from the drum set.

_"Forever yours, I am.  
Like the ocean to the sand."_

Axel gestured to himself when he said "Ocean" and to Riku when he said "Sand" (Reno looked it up, "Riku" was Japanese for "land"). He walked to Demyx, to the right.

_"Forever in debt to my band,  
I'm in the palm of your hand."_

He held out his hands in a gesture of giving, as if offering something to his cousin. He crossed to Leon and Cloud.

_"Forever wondering why,  
Like a skeptic to the sky."_

Holding his hand out to Leon when he said "skeptic" and to Cloud when he said "sky." Axel walked to the middle of the stage, feet shoulder width apart.

_"Forever yours, and yours,  
And yours, and yours, I am.  
Goodbye."_

At each "yours" he gestured to another member of the band. When he said goodbye, he bowed.

When the song ended, thirty seconds later, the band was in high spirits. Sora shut the lights off, and the five men on stage rubbed their eyes, jumping to ground level. Riku pulled Sora into a noogie. Leon patted Cloud on the shoulder (the first physical contact Reno had seen the two share). Axel and Demyx pounded fists.

"Oh yeah. We're going to rock the stage tonight. It's good to be home."

Reno had to agree with his doppelganger.

---

And rock the stage, they did. Reno watched from the safety of his home as the crowd rolled in. The band had gone inside, but the fans weren't allowed in. It was structured a lot like a concert. If the fans flashed the proper ID, their name on the guest list, they could go inside.

Reno wouldn't ever know it, but his name was on the list of "Friends of the Band."

There weren't a lot of people there, for a concert. Maybe one-hundred bodies, packed together at the front of the stage or swimming in the pool. There wasn't a keg, and Reno couldn't find a cooler or a fridge in the yard, but everyone had the same brand of beer. It had to have been supplied here.

Sora, the manager, Reno learned from more google searches, introduced the band at eight. They all excitedly took the stage and started with the first song on their first album.

From eight until eleven, the band played a bunch of songs. Most were their songs, some were covers. (Their cover of "When I Grow Up" by the Pussycat Dolls would have made Reno laugh, if it hadn't been done so well.)

Between every two or three songs, Axel stopped to talk to the crowd. At one point, he looked over at Demyx and then said. "Hey Sora, if you're out there, Dem's going to break his high "e" string in the next song, so while we're playing this next one, go into the studio and get him a new one. Oh, and if you can get three beers, a coffee and a Gatorade, that would be just swell too."

"A purple G-2." Demyx said, patting his stomach. "Gotta watch those calories, man."

Three-quarters of the way through the song (even with Demyx being careful, now that he was warned), Demyx broke his high e string and said, "Shit, sorry guys" into the microphone. Sora was there, climbing on stage to give Demyx the new string and a Gatorade, Riku, Axel and Cloud beers, and Leon a coffee.

While Demyx changed the string, Axel picked up his own guitar and said, "Who wants to hear our manager sing?" Apparently he and his twin brother had been in a boy-band together when they were younger. Sora would deny it, even under torture. The brunet tried to get out of it, but couldn't, the band played whether or not he would sing. By the time that song was done, Demyx was ready to go and the concert continued.

Reno had forgotten he wasn't going over, because from the second floor window, with binoculars, watching Axel show-boat on stage, dancing and singing with his friends, Reno realized he had the best seat in the house.

The redhead hadn't been counting the beers he'd been drinking. But because he started early, he knew he'd had a lot. When the concert ended with an encore performance (the band did Alive with the Glory of Love, which Reno felt was being sung directly to him), Reno stumbled his way to his bedroom.

He enjoyed the concert too much to watch his redheaded neighbor flirt and dance with the crowd. It didn't take Reno long to pass out on his bed, to dream dreams of Axel serenading him.

---

Socializing came after the concert. For Axel, anyway. The redhead knew he'd put on one of the best performances of his life, he was proud. He wanted to impress Reno, and after that stunning display of talent, how could the other redhead _not_ be impressed.

Jumping off the stage, Axel was handed another bottle of beer, which he put to his forehead, feeling the coolness on his skull before opening it. The crowd went away from the stage, just randomly hanging out in the back yard, and Axel shifted through them.

Leon and Cloud went inside. Neither of them were ever really into the after-party scene. They were probably making some food for later, when Axel and Riku came in so trashed they needed to be spoon-fed and taken care of. If nothing else, Axel admired Cloud's ability to hold his alcohol. They could be drinking drink for drink, and the blond wouldn't be acting strange at all, when the redhead would be nearly vomiting.

Of course, Axel wasn't planning on drinking himself into oblivion tonight. Roxas was in the north-east, as far away as possible from Radiant Garden, California and Axel as he could be while still being in the United States. That meant he wasn't around to cock-block or seduce him or anything. For two fucking weeks, Axel would be free to do whatever the fuck he wanted, until Roxas came back and made it harder to do anything.

Axel wanted to at least be friends with Reno, before the blond showed up.

But he couldn't find the redhead anywhere; inside or out.

He found Sora and Riku dancing, both with bottles in their hand (it was strange to think that Sora was drinking _legally_ at their parties now, the thought made Axel feel old), to the music pouring over the crowd from the DJ on stage. Demyx and Zexion, a depressing bookworm of a human being, were sitting on the front porch, both drinking fucking tea.

Leon and Cloud weren't in the kitchen when Axel went to find something to eat, which meant they'd moved into their honorary bedroom on the second floor. Fuck.

It had been a long time since Axel attended an after-show party without company. Usually Zexion wasn't around (he was a senior at the college down the street), so he and Demyx would hang out. Most of the time Sora wasn't either, he was usually off managing the band, so he'd have Riku to drink with. And when he and Roxas were on good-terms, and on the same side of the country, the two of _them_ would be drinking and dancing or fucking in the bedroom.

The redhead found a shot of something in the kitchen and took it without thinking. Riku would have something, he'd just have to ask. Bitterly, he looked out the window. Three of Reno's lights were on, he was definitely home, he just hadn't come out to play. It had been a long, _long_ time since Axel was stood up by anyone. Including Roxas. Even the fucking whore came when he was called.

_Fine_. Axel though, grabbing another beer as he fought his way back to Sora and Riku. Riku recognized the look on his friends face, and he pulled himself away from his boyfriend. He tapped Sora on the back and the brunet yelled, "I'm gonna get another drink, want one, Riku?"

Riku nodded. He waited until the brunet left before he asked, "What's wrong, Axel?"

_I don't need you to be happy_.

"I need something, Kuey." Axel slipped his hand around Riku's waste, kissing him briefly on the lips as he slipped his hands into his friend's back pockets. As always, a baggie was in one of them. Axel pulled it out, removing himself from his friend as he looked into it. Five white pills.

"What is it?" Axel asked, unnecessarily.

The silver-haired man pulled Axel's hips against his own. He pushed his nose into the redhead's mane, kissing his neck softly, quoting one of their own songs: "This is fucking ecstasy."

"Want one?" Axel asked, opening the bag, reaching his hand in.

"Will you not do one?" Riku asked back, forcing his friend to hold his gaze. "Tell me what's wrong. Nobody has a good high if they're trying to hide from being pissed or depressed."

"I want one."

"Then you're paying." Riku snatched the bag back from his friend. "If I take one Sora won't sleep with me tonight. And if I do, we'll end up messing around and that never turns out good for either or us. I can't believe you're making me the responsible one. I'm the fucking addict."

Axel forced his lips against his friend's mouth again. _"Please."_ He mumbled against them.

Riku took him by the shoulders and moved him back, pocketing the ecstasy, before reaching into his front pocket. There were pills in a baggy there, too, maybe ten of them, they were blue. Riku opened the bag.

"You never get like this when Roxas is away. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Axel gripped the front of the silver-haired man's shirt, pulling them closer. "He didn't come. I invited the new neighbor tonight, but he never showed."

Riku rolled his eyes. "You were stood up by some loser and you're having a panic attack? How fucking lame are you?"

"He's not a loser." Was all Axel could manage before Riku held up a pill, showing it to the redhead. Eagerly, not sure exactly what the pill was, but not caring either, he stuck out his tongue. Riku put the pill on the singer's mouth, wiping his hand on his pants before closing the bag and re-pocketing the drugs.

Axel washed it down with beer.

The silver-haired man grinned at him, pecking his frontman on the lips once before removing himself completely. "Go in and get some sleep, Axel, we'll turn the music down. There's no real reason to stay up, right?"

"I guess not."

Suddenly Sora was by Riku's side again, pushing the cold beer into his boyfriend's hand. There was no way he didn't see the kiss. That was what Axel liked about Sora. The redhead put his hand in the brown spikes, rubbing his head as the brunet smiled at him. Roxas always got pissed when he and Riku even looked at each other in a suggestive manner. Sora was fine with it; he _understood_ the boys' closeness to one another. It was something they'd done since they were young.

Riku was lucky to have Sora. If only Roxas could be more like his twin, Axel would be happy.

"Night, guys."

"Night, Axel." Sora said, touching his bare arm affectionately.

"Hey, Axel." Riku questioned. "You don't need to self-medicate when you have medication from _doctors_. You made it through the tour, man. I'm proud of you. This should be easy, in comparison. No stress, okay. Don't shut down on us because of some dick you don't even know."

Axel nodded. It was starting to kick in, and he felt drowsy.

"Night, Riku."

"Goodnight."

The redhead walked into the back door, and the couple saw him put his half-full bottle of beer on the counter next to the refrigerator. He peeled off his jacket, and it looked like he really was going to bed.

"What did you give him?" Sora asked. "I've seen him on ecstasy, and that's not it."

Riku shook his head, taking a sip of his drink. "Nah, I gave him a Xanax. He's freaking because the neighbor stood him up, I guess. Leon watched him take his meds the entire tour, to make sure he was taking them. I guess he figured he'd take them when he was home."

"You don't think he did?"

Riku shook his head.

"And not only did you keep him from taking a dangerous drug while he was already intoxicated, you kept yourself from taking it." Sora smiled. "I'm proud of you."

"I only didn't because you don't have sex with me when I'm high." Riku admitted, slipping his free hand under Sora's shirt, outlining the muscles with his fingertips.

The brunet took his boyfriend's hand. "Well, you're not high, so let's get started."

All concern about the redhead left Riku's eyes as he happily followed his boyfriend into the band's house, leaving Demyx to be the responsible adult and keep an eye on the intoxicated guests. Lord help us all.

---

The songs the band plays as a warm up:

1. "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon  
2. "Durch Den Monsun" by Tokio Hotel  
3. "Sorry, Dudes. My Bad" by Say Anything

---

Scene from the next Gives Me Hell:

_Axel's blush had gone away, instead, he just smirked. He held the cards again. "Zieh er." Demyx looked surprised, looking at Reno's extended hand, then back at Axel. "Go on, go to him."_

_Demyx smiled and nodded, swimming over to the redhead on the side of the pool._

_"Um… Reno?" Rude's eyes flashed from Axel's self-satisfactory smirk to Demyx's playful smile. It didn't help that the man __knew_ German and the redhead had _not _told his cousin to go to him.

_Reno waved his hand, dismissively, cockily. "Later, Rude. It doesn't matter."_

_Rude shrugged, he'd tried. Axel looked like a cat, the bird all but landing in his mouth._


	2. Hot as Hell

**Gives You Hell**

By: Tomi Sama

**Chapter 2: "Hot as Hell."**

**Pairings:** Dominate: AkuReno, LeonxCloud, RikuxSora, Zemyx.

Others: Mentions of past AkuRoku, AkuRiku

**Warnings:** Yaoi. There's a LOT of Roxas hatred. Language, Drug Use, you know, that stuff.

**Word Count:** 13,578, excluding all the warnings and author's note and such.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything at all. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or the multiple Final Fantasy characters I mention. I also don't own the songs mentioned in the song.

**Author's Note**: This was meant to be a classic switcheroo story, as in Axel and Reno switch places, but it seems the boys want to have a relationship. Don't worry, there will be Parent Trap styled switching, I guess they just want to be friends first. ^_^

Oh, and I'm not really a review whore, and I promise I won't say, "I'm not updating until x many people review." My only request is, if you're going to alert or favorite the story, please review, too. It doesn't have to be much, just a smiley face or some sort of way I can improve. I guess it's just a pet-peeve. Plus, reviews make me happy and a happy writer writes more, so you're bound to get the next chapter faster. ^_^

---

There was no way in hell Reno was going getting up early on this beautiful Sunday morning. He woke up at six thirty, went to the bathroom, and went back to bed. He only had two words on his throbbing mind:

_Fuck ShinRa._

Of course, ShinRa had other plans.

At nine o'clock, the curtains, which had been pulled shut the night before, flew open. The onslaught of light woke the hung-over redhead instantly, causing him to groan and roll over. He heard the soft chuckle, which sounded like a jackhammer, and pulled a pillow over his head.

The other window's blinds were thrown open, and then the pillow was removed from his head. With a prayer, his attacker begged to all the deities in all the variations of heaven that Reno was wearing _something_ on his lower half, and swiftly pulled the blanket off the redhead's thin form.

The man sighed in relief when he saw the boxers.

"Go away." Reno mumbled against his arm, before putting his hands over his head, trying to block out the sound.

"I'm impressed Reno. Eighteen beers. Luckily you bought a full case yesterday or you might have run out early."

"Fuck you, Rude."

Rude pushed the sunglasses closer to his eyes. "You must have started early."

"One in the afternoon."

"Why?"

Rude wasn't a talker, but if he kept talking, it would be impossible for Reno to fall back to sleep. The redhead realized this and sat up, shielding his eyes from the sun's rays while still looking at his partner. Rude was dressed in his new Turk uniform. Black pants, black suit (zipped), white shirt, black tie. They used to wear blue, but after Sephiroth left ShinRa, for some reason, every branch switched from blue to black.

Even the new SOLDIERS wore black.

"My neighbor came home last night."

Rude smirked. "So you only drank nine?"

"No. I drank all eighteen. He's the lead singer of my favorite band." Rude raised his eyebrow, as if to say, so? "And he's fucking hot." Rude raised it higher, so? "He asked me to come over to his party, but I love his music. And what if he turned out to be an asshole or something? I wouldn't be able to enjoy the music without thinking _wow, the singers a total tool!_ Or what if we dated and then broke up? I would hate the music because of that and…"

"Reno." Rude stated, breaking the man from his ramble. Reno looked up.

Rude looked surprised. "You're thinking about _dating_ this guy? I've never heard you think about _dating_ anyone. You _fuck_ people, remember. You're emotionally retarded."

The redhead laid back down, covering his face with his hands again. "_That's_ why I drank eighteen beers last night!"

---

An hour later, they hadn't talked about it anymore than that. However, Rude _did_ call Elena while the redhead was in the shower, after the pair ate breakfast, and asked her what he could do to help his friend. She just cackled maniacally, and told Tseng (Rude wondered why the two of them were together so early on a Sunday morning, only to realize he honestly didn't want to know).

Luckily, Rude left out the fact that it was Vincent's little brother. Or a boy at all. Rude was fine with the idea, he'd been hearing Reno talking about hot guys for years, but he wasn't sure how the chain of command would work if everyone else found out he was dating a guy… if things made it that far.

Rude had never seen his friend so serious about a relationship… especially not non-existent ones… before. Since Reno had joined the Turks at age eighteen, he talked about fucking all sorts of people; it was Rude who would talk about his crushes. The redhead was incapable of loving another human being!

After Reno got around, fixed his make-up and put his goggles over his forehead (they were UV protected, if the sun was shining too bright for his hung-over eyes to bare), Rude thought it was about time to spar with his younger friend, for the first time in a long while.

Honestly, Reno needed both the practice and to beat his frustration out on something. Rude was a good enough friend to possibly turn himself into a punching bag if his buddy was down (although it wasn't likely that Reno was a better fighter than Rude, they'd always been pretty evenly matched).

Before Axel came home and ruined Reno's life, the elder redhead hired somebody to make him half a basketball court. It finished a week ago, but the August heat in Radiant Garden made it too hot to play. However, the partners were walking to the box in the center of the yard. It wasn't a box, as much as a square painted into the grass, twenty-feet squared. Reno walked to the corner farthest from the house, while Rude stopped in his corner, taking in his surroundings.

"Looks like your neighbors had a party last night, too." Rude smirked, pushing the glasses up on his face, again.

Reno put the goggles over his eyes, pushing at them for a second, to get used to the feeling of them on his face. "I guess so."

Their neighbor's yard looked like a frat house. Empty beer bottles littered the yard, their band equipment was still out, though the guitars were laying over, like someone had been playing with them the night before. When Rude had arrived at Reno's house at nine, two or three people had been passed out in the yard. By this time the sun woke them up and they had left.

All was quiet in the house, no lights were on. The band must still be sleeping.

"The first weekend of college, too." Rude shook his head, putting his gloves on, menacingly. "It's a shame so many young kids waste their time drinking and partying instead of furthering their education."

Reno smirked, EMR resting on his shoulder. "Are you saying you never drank when you were underage?"

Rude shook his head, bending his knees, raising his arms up in a boxing stance. "Nope. But I never went to college. I was born with superior knowledge."

To which Reno smirked again, bigger this time, "you rhymed" and ran at his partner.

---

"_Fuck!"_

Three of the five doors upstairs opened. Three men poked their head out, glaring at each other angrily. "Shut the fuck up, Axel." The silver-haired man growled. "It's too early to be up considering what went down last night."

In all honesty, Axel couldn't remember much about "last night." That included his small anxiety attack, caused by his slight narcissistic personality being stood up by his next door neighbor. In fact, in his alcohol and Xanax induced grogginess, he couldn't even remember that he wasn't on tour anymore, let alone that he had a new neighbor.

"What? I heard someone swearing and I thought they might have fallen down the stairs and died."

"It _did_ sound like Axel." Demyx agreed, pulling pajama pants on over his boxers, as if his band hadn't seen him in his underwear before and he was self conscious about it. As if they hadn't seen him in less than his boxers. But then again, maybe their relentless pranking was _why_ he was uncomfortable being in simply his boxers before them.

"Where the fuck…" Axel started. "We're home?"

Demyx shot Riku a look, "What did you give him last night?"

Riku scratched his bare chest, stretching almost lewdly. "Xanax. Chill, he remembers. It's a higher dose than I gave him last time. Well, I mean, it's _his_ prescription, he just never takes them so he's not use to the dose, I guess."

Axel walked out of his room, feeling the wall for a second to stay balanced and upright. He felt like vomiting.

"_Shit, you fucking cocksucker!"_ There was a thump, then another yell, _"I have a fucking _hangover_, Rude. Can you please let go of my fucking hair?"_

The three band members looked at each other again, confused. The shorter two were staring at Axel like he suddenly became a ventriloquist, while the redhead was freaked that he was hearing the voice in his head project so loudly. It wasn't until he caught his friends' look, and realized they had heard it too.

"Whoa, Axel dude."

The door behind Axel banged open, Cloud and Leon stumbled into the hallway, looking ready to break up a fight. They were surprised to see that the youngest members of the band were standing apart from each other, looking more confused than angry.

"Who has your hair, Axel?" Leon asked. Cloud yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Nobody…" The redhead held his head in his hands, leaning over, annoyed. "What the fuck happened yesterday?"

"_Ha. Ha! Say uncle and I'll let up!"_

"_Never!"_ There was a cracking sound, which sounded like electric energy being released, followed by a soft yelp and a loud _"Uncle!"_

In a profound a-ha moment, Axel bound past Riku, into the silver-haired man's unofficial bedroom. "It's Reno!" Sora was already gone; he must have had work to do.

Riku laughed. "No, dude. You're names _Axel,_ got it memorized? I've heard you say some funny shit after taking some shit, but you've always remembered that you were." Demyx laughed too.

"Maybe he hit his head."

"No, dude." The redhead repeated, looking out the window in a much less stealthy manner than Reno had the night before. Axel had his hands pressed against the window, standing before it in his red polka-dotted heart boxers, staring into his neighbor's back yard. "That's Reno talking."

The other four band members were quick to join him at the window. They'd all heard Axel complain about being confused for a man named "Reno" since they'd joined the band. What were the odds that the man would move next door?

"Whoa." Seemed to be the unanimous answer from the four men. With Riku adding the obvious: "He looks like your fucking _clone_. I can see why people thought you were him."

"I know." Axel said. "I invited him to our show last night so I could introduce you guys to him with us next to each other. He even wears face make-up. On the sides of his eyes, there, see."

---

Reno laughed, putting the EMR on his shoulder again as Rude stood up, growling. "You didn't need to shock me, Reno."

The redhead just smirked, "you shocked me, first." He gestured lamely to Rude's belt, which contained his own EMR, to be used only in emergencies… or when he pinned Reno down.

"With my stunning good looks." The bald man stated, brushing his coat off as he picked himself up off the ground. "And clearly superior fighting talents."

Reno laughed, but stopped when he felt eyes on him. He walked toward his partner, who saw the change in the redhead's appearance and didn't attack. Reno brushed dirt off of Rude's shoulder, muttering quietly. "All five of them are in the window, second floor, first window on the left. They probably heard us and just woke up. I'll give them five seconds before they realize you're looking, so if you want a good look, look fast, yo."

The Turk turned and walked to his starting position. He slowly counted to five in his head before he heard _"Shit!"_ and heard a collision, glass shattering as the band attempted to run away from the window. Apparently they weren't too graceful this early. Rude laughed, and Reno turned around to face his partner.

"Ones a Jenova."

Reno nodded. "Drummer. He's a junkie, I'm betting."

"The redhead, Vincent's little brother, he looks just like you."

Reno nodded again. "D'you see his tattoo?" The redhead patted his hip. "How fucking hot is that?"

The bald man shrugged. "Rumor has it that Elena has a tramp stamp."

The redhead dropped his guard, EMR hanging loosely in his hand at his side. "No fucking way!"

Rude cracked his knuckles and attacked. "Nope."

"_Damn it, Rude!"_

---

They met in the kitchen, which meant they could still watch the Turks sparring across the lawn, but from the table, they would be unlikely caught again. Zexion made bacon and eggs, much to Demyx's dismay.

"He's a Turk, like my brother." Axel said, biting into the crispy pork.

Demyx whined, "It smells sooooo good."

"It is, Dem. Fucking delicious." As if to spit in his cousin's face, he took a gulp of milk to wash his bacon down with.

Demyx whimpered, slamming his forehead onto the dining room table. "You're a horrible Jew," appeared to be the worst insult he could think of.

"Es tut mir Leid, Demy." Axel took another bite of bacon. Cloud tried translating, but it wasn't an insult so he couldn't do it. Axel didn't help the blond, he wouldn't admit to apologizing to his cousin for being bad at their religion.

When Zexion placed hash browns in front of his boyfriend with a small smile, the blond gave him a happy "Danke!" and stopped his pouting.

"You're welcome." Zexion smiled back.

"So he works for ShinRa?" Riku asked, his food was already gone. "ShinRa's evil, man. They're an evil company bent on world domination and destroying the planet."

Cloud smirked. "How Demyx of you, hippie."

Demyx was enjoying his non-pork breakfast too much to contemplate a proper comeback. He settled for, "Nothing wrong with caring about the planet, Cloud."

"Besides, you hate ShinRa, too." Riku stated. "Hands up, who doesn't hate ShinRa?"

Axel raised his hand. He was the only one.

"My brother saves lives! He's a hero!"

Cloud and Riku rolled their eyes. Cloud had joined ShinRa when he was sixteen, in an effort to find his birth mother. It didn't take long, they do DNA tests on all new recruits and when they found out he shared DNA with the Almighty Sephiroth, they started fast-tracking him to be a SOLDIER. At first, when they injected him with Mako and started doing experiments on him, he was okay with it. He longed to know his maternal family, even if he was the ShinRa's poster child. When he found out Sephiroth had four younger brothers in Radiant Garden, he got out of ShinRa as fast as he could. It still took months. When he did leave, they had to move out of the city.

Leon guessed it, but Demyx and Axel still didn't know that Cloud and Riku were half-brothers. Riku's other three brothers, Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj, didn't know, either. It was kind of like a family secret, treasured by both of them to be worth protecting the sanctity of their relationship.

It had been the Turks to recruit Cloud originally, and the ones who made it so hard for him to leave. He _knew _what the Turks really did, but didn't have the heart to burst Axel's ignorant bubble.

Riku's hatred of ShinRa was less specific. He knew his eldest brother, Sephiroth, had been a SOLDIER for them. He didn't remember being experimented on as a child by ShinRa to see if Sephiroth's brothers could be turned into SOLDIERs like him. He didn't remember the reason their mother abandoned them was because they were all less-than-perfect copies of his eldest brother.

"Reno being a ShinRa lackey and asshole aside," Riku said, eyeing Demyx's hash browns longingly. The silver-haired man hadn't put a shirt on. He'd gained fifteen pounds in the last three months, which was a good thing. His ribs still poked out unhealthily, but his stomach had obvious muscle, instead of just skinny. Axel couldn't believe he thought his best friend looked good when he was on the serious drugs, he was too freaking skinny! "I think you should make a move on him."

"Agreed." Zexion stated, putting a plate down in front of Riku.

"I love you, Zexion." Riku grinned, helping himself to the food he was given. "Sora never cooks for us."

The quiet man blushed softly, brushing hair from his face. "Sora does a lot for you. He keeps you rich. He got you off drugs, Riku. The least I can do is cook breakfast occasionally."

Riku corrected, "He got me off _heroin_. I still got some pot, if you want that." He didn't mention he had ecstasy. It was a smart move. The other men had never been… supportive of Riku's addictions. Well, he had Xanax, too, but technically it was Xanax he stole from Axel anyway.

"He's clearly uninterested." Axel went to take his plate away, but Zexion grabbed it from him, urging him to sit back down. The redhead smiled his thanks.

Demyx shook his head. "I disagree. I think he is. Why else would he tell his friend we were in the window, watching?"

"Do you want anything else?" Zexion asked.

Everyone shook their heads, except for his blond boyfriend. "Can I get some orange juice?"

Zexion shook his head, "Sorry, Dem. I'm off the clock." And with a smirk, he picked up a book from the table where he left it, and walked outside, to sit on the front porch to do some school work.

The blond apparently wasn't too thirsty, because he pouted, without getting up to get the drink.

"Maybe because five half-naked guys were pressed up against the window in utter surprise at how much Reno looks like Axel." Cloud stated. "I doubt he's heard _you look a lot like this rockstar_ all his life. He doesn't seem to be a music enthusiast. I doubt anyone in ShinRa can appreciate the finer arts."

Leon shook his head. "I disagree. For all we know, he could be one of your biggest fans. Maybe he didn't come over because he's afraid of knowing you on a personal level, or sounding like an idiot and having you hate him."

Axel shook his head, "That's stupid."

"Why not ask him why he didn't come?" Demyx asked.

The redhead was sick of this conversation. His pride had been stepped on when Reno didn't come, when he was obviously invited. His friends bashing ShinRa only rubbed salt in the wounds. "Fine, Demyx. I'll ask him why he didn't come if you jump out a second floor window."

The blond licked his thumb free of some ketchup, boredly.

"Okay."

---

Reno abandoned his black jacket when the sun decided to peek out from behind the clouds and warm up the September air. He rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt when that proved too hot as well. He was getting ready to attack Rude when one of Axel's windows opened in the back. Rude turned to face the noise.

It was Demyx.

The blond smiled at his cousin's new neighbor, and his friend, before turning to look back at the house. "It's nice out, guys."

Suddenly, Leon and Cloud burst from the back door; both had swimming trunks on: the burnet's were black, the blond's were yellow. Neither had shirts on. "Don't be an idiot, Demyx." Cloud called.

Demyx put his hands on the window frame, leaning most of his torso out of the window, looking down. The pool was directly below him, the deep end. He would have to jump out three feet to clear the edge of the pool and make it to the water.

Axel came out, wearing black swimming trunks with flames on them. His heart tattoo was still slightly hidden. Rude heard Reno whimper quietly, uncharacteristically. He crossed his arms, seemingly uncaring whether or not his cousin died trying to amuse him. Demyx perched on the windowsill, pushing his elbows against the window frame to balance himself.

"If he dies, you're going to have to find a new guitarist." Leon said.

Riku came out, his swimming trunks were green.

Axel shrugged. "Guitarists are dime a dozen."

Demyx almost lost his footing, but grabbed onto a curtain peeking out the side of the window to save himself. Both Turks crossed the lawn, standing maybe ten feet away from the pool; worried for the younger blond's safety, though unable to do anything other than watch. "That's mean! You don't mean that!"

The redhead shook his head. He didn't mean it.

Demyx gave a self satisfied smirk, before changing his footing, regaining control. "I'm like Peter Petrelli! And I can fly!"

There were four unified sighs from the rest of the band. Great. This again.

"Okay, Demyx." Axel started. "One." He held up one finger. "Last time I checked, that's just a TV show, unless the Turks are up to something they shouldn't be." He flashed the two men a smile, before looking back at Demyx, poking another finger out to join the first. "Two: Nathan is the flyer, technically. Three." He held up a third finger, "You've got that blond mullethawk thing, and Peter has _amazing _hair… in season one. So you can't be Peter. And most importantly… Four." His pinky came up to make four fingers. "If we're playing _Heroes_, _I_ get to be Peter. He's the coolest and has the best power. You're more of a Hiro."

Demyx seemed pleased being Hiro, but Riku frowned. "I think I should be Peter! I want his powers."

Axel laughed and waved an accusing finger at Riku. "Which is exactly why you'd be Sylar."

"Don't be Sylar, Riku!" Demyx squeaked. "He scares me!"

Riku gave Axel his best Sylar impression, a glare-smirk that was scary because he was a Jenova and it only made him look more like Sephiroth. "He's scary, but damn is he cute."

Axel laughed.

"Okay, you've had your fangirl fun, Axel. Get your cousin down now." Cloud stated. "Hurry, before you guys start picking who would be who in 24 or Lost."

"I want to be Jack!" Demyx yelled, but thought about it for a second before adding. "I meant Jack in Lost, but I'll be Jack in 24, too!"

Apparently, even Axel didn't want to fight about his favorite TV shows. "What do you want me to do to make you not jump?"

Demyx thought about it. He flashed a look at Rude and Reno, both of whom looked surprised and on edge, as if they were going to have to save the blond when he fell and cracked his head open. "What are your names? Do you guys watch Heroes?"

"Focus, Dem." Axel said. "Spring nicht."

Suddenly, an idea flashed in the blond's eyes. "Sing it! Sing it to me and I won't jump!"

This time Axel looked at Reno. At the promise of his favorite singer doing what he does best, the elder redhead looked at Axel and cared less about the guitarist well being. He tried not to look pathetic, but Reno knew his whole body was begging Axel to sing.

The taller redhead looked back to Demyx. "No. I just woke up and drank milk. You can jump your ass down."

"_Axel!"_ Leon and Cloud yelled.

Apparently that was all the blond needed. He kicked off the window. As if a cannonball weren't enough, the blond did a front flip as well. He landed dead center, in the middle of the deep end. He was never _not _going to make it.

"He makes me nervous every fucking time." Cloud said, applauding the blond, nonetheless.

Reno and Rude both got soaked. Rude took his sunglasses off to wipe them clean on his dry undershirt. Reno just put his goggles on his forehead, touching his chest to see how wet the cloth was. It clung to his form. The redhead pulled it, removing the wet material from his chest, to ring out some of the access water. When as much was out as possible, he let it fall back into place, clinging snugly against his slender body.

When Demyx surfaced, he mumbled his apology. He stood up in the water, when his feet could touch, and walked to the other side of the pool where Axel was waiting.

Reno smiled to himself, seeing that Demyx had a tattoo as well. On his left shoulder-blade he had music note. One of the attached ones, he wasn't sure what it was called; an eighth note, maybe. In between the two notes, was the Roman-numeral IX. Apparently, these boys really enjoyed their numbers.

The real surprise came when he pulled himself out of the water and turned to face the Turks again, slightly bent over, rubbing his hair vigorously, water splashing Cloud and Leon (the older boys quickly jumped in to avoid the guitarist's onslaught). Demyx wasn't as thin as Axel or Riku, but he looked the healthiest of the three of them. He had abs, but they were softer. He looked younger than the rest of the boys. Riku suddenly jumped in, nearly landing on Cloud who swore loudly.

"Do you have your _bellybutton _pierced?" Reno couldn't help but blurt out.

Demyx was quick to close his hands over his stomach, turning a shade of red that Reno hadn't seen on anyone sober in a long time. Grinning, almost as if he couldn't help himself, Reno walked closer to the edge of the pool. To avoid talking about the ring, Demyx had jumped back in, on his knees so his chest was covered by the water.

"It's alright…" The name sounded foreign on his lips, "… Demyx. I think it's neat. I just want to see it." The redhead squatted down, extending his hand to seem friendly and unthreatening.

Demyx took a step toward Reno, seeming more submissive than normal, when the redhead's eyes were averted from the blond. Axel had sat on the edge of the pool, dangling his feet in. When he was sure Reno was watching, he lifted himself up on his hands, slowly, inch by inch, lowering his hips and torso in the water. When he was touching he dunked his head under, ran his hands through his hair, and came back up.

He ran his hands through his hair again, smoothing it back. It was longer when it was wet and unspiky. Reno gave him a few seconds to watch the man's obvious attempts to capture his attention. The water ran down his torso, making rivulets in the indents in his stomach, where the muscles were outlined beneath the skin. He stood back up again, hips barely out of the water, as he leaned back against the deck, forcing attention to his chest and stomach. With a switch of his weight, he drew attention to his tattoo.

Reno let himself indulge in the sight, but he wasn't a stupid sex-crazed teenager. And two could play at that game.

The mostly-dry redhead held out his hand again, smiling innocently at the blond halfway between the Reno and Axel, in the center of the pool.

"I'm not going to _hurt_ you, Demyx. I just want to see." Reno all but purred.

Suddenly getting a better idea, Reno switched his weight, spreading his legs further apart, left hand coming to rub his head, right still extended to Demyx. His wet shirt stretched over his chest. The top two buttons were already undone; this caused them to open further. With a quick glance over, Reno saw the slight blush on the younger redhead's cheeks; Axel's tongue darted out quickly to wet his lips. Reno wondered if he was blushing because the Turk was just that damn hot (which is what the blue-eyed man though, for sure) or if Axel was frustrated by the obvious diversion of flirting (which would result in Axel trying harder for Reno's attention, which Reno would never complain about).

Demyx took a step toward Reno, standing slightly, though his stomach was still hidden by the water. He turned quickly, silently asking cousin for permission to approach the stranger. Reno couldn't decide if it was cute, as if Axel had his guitarist's back and knew he would give him good advice, or fucking scary, as if Axel was running a brothel and Demyx had to actually ask _permission_ to approach someone.

Axel's blush had gone away, instead, he just smirked. He held the cards again. "Zieh er." Demyx looked surprised, looking at Reno's extended hand, then back at Axel. "Go on, go to him."

Demyx smiled and nodded, swimming over to the redhead on the side of the pool.

"Um… Reno?" Rude's eyes flashed from Axel's self-satisfactory smirk to Demyx's playful smile. It didn't help that the man _knew_ German and the redhead had _not _told his cousin to go to him.

Reno waved his hand, dismissively, cockily. "Later, Rude. It doesn't matter."

Rude shrugged, he'd tried. Axel looked like a cat, the bird all but landing in his mouth.

When the blond got within reaching distance he stopped and stood up, brushing his stomach off as if the water would obstruct the redhead's view of the metal piercing his stomach.

"I can't see it." Reno leaned closer. He looked less like he was actually concerned about seeing it than he was having the blond near to him. This time, Demyx took his hand, gently, allowing him to be lured in to the other man's side. Demyx didn't let go when Reno kept their hands together, leaning over, further unstabilizing himself on the edge of the pool, to look at the blond's stomach.

"How'd you get it?" Reno reached his other hand out, brushing his fingertip against the metal. "Or, I guess, I understand the metal rod being put into your bellybutton. I guess I mean: it's unusual for a boy. Why'd you decide to do it?"

Demyx turned his hand over, suddenly lacing his fingers in between Reno's. The redhead looked up at him, mildly interested in the flirting. Sure, Reno had always been called a flirt, but his flirting _never ever_ got him anywhere but slapped. It seemed to be working on the blond kid. Demyx's other hand ran over Reno's wrist, getting the redhead use to the touch.

"I lost a bet."

Reno smirked. "What kind of bet? With who?"

"With Axel." Demyx led Reno's hand toward his chest. The redhead tottered uneasily on his feet, but put a hand down to steady himself, leaning dangerously over the edge to let Demyx lead his hand. At this point, it was very obvious to everyone, except Reno, how the rest of this scene was going to go down. Rude even had his head in his hands, ashamed his partner could be so idiotic.

"The bet wasn't important. I can't remember what we even bet on, the point is: you can't cross Axel."

Reno looked up, confused. "What?"

"Axel _always _wins."

Demyx wrapped his hands around the redhead's wrist and pulled hard. It didn't take a lot; Reno had almost fallen in by himself. The blond tried to let go of the redhead's hand, to swim away, in case he would be mad (as any sane person would be, when they were pulled into a swimming pool against their will), but Reno tightened his fingers around him, surfacing quickly with a sadistic grin on his face.

"Shit!" Demyx gave his arm a tug, but to no avail. Reno's other hand grabbed his forearm, pulling the blond toward him, until Demyx's back was pressed against the redhead's chest.

"Axel!"

The lead singer looked just as amused as Reno did. Demyx was glad he was blood with Axel, he suddenly felt that the two perverted redheads wouldn't be above sharing a fuck, whether the third part of their threesome was willing or not. As messed up as Axel was, he probably wasn't into incest.

"You shouldn't have listened to me, Demyx." Axel shrugged. "I just met the man, how am I to know that he's not a rapist or a pedophile?"

"_Axel!"_ Demyx whined, trying to elbow the man behind him. Few connected, but not hard enough to hurt the superior fighter.

"C'mon now, I think _rapist_ is a little strong." For a second, their almost identical voices calmed the blond, before he remembered it really _was_ someone he didn't know who had him in a perfect position to rape him. Apparently his friends didn't think he was in danger, Cloud, Leon and Riku were tossing a blitzball back and forth. "And it's not my fault that you're so damn cute."

"Does the word 'incest' mean anything to anybody in this house?" With a smile, Zexion closed the book he'd been reading. "Fuck. I figured after Sora and Roxas made out after heavily drinking one night we promised _no more incest_."

"Zexy!" Demyx whined. "Zexion, my loving, adoring _boyfriend_! Get him off of me."

Reno let go quickly, a pouting Demyx pulled himself out of the water to run and hide behind his shorter lover. His head peaked out from behind him. Zexion crossed his arms, taking in the wet clothes, dress clothes, the long hair, the goggles, and the missing tattoos. That, and the fact that Axel quickly made his way over to Reno, tipped the student off that someone who _wasn't_ family was trying to rape his boyfriend.

"Who is that?" His one visible eye narrowed accusingly at Axel, as the younger redhead stood slightly in front of the shorter one, crossing his arms back. Reno thought it was cute, Axel attempting to be the man and defend him, but Reno was perfectly capable of defending himself.

"My name's Reno." He jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. "I just moved in next door. That's Rude, my partner."

The six men turned their head to Rude, confused.

"Not _that_ kind of partner." Rude mumbled. "We work together."

Reno stuck out his tongue at his own bad choice of words. "Yeah, he's not really my type."

Axel turned at his hips, looking over his shoulder at the shorter redhead behind him. "Oh yeah, what's your type?" Reno grinned, taking a step toward Axel.

As if they were children again, Axel pointed an accusing finger at the blond, his other hand came to rest defiantly on his hip. "Oh yeah, well, Demyx pulled my new neighbor into the swimming pool. You should be lucky he didn't punch you! Or shock you with that taser thing!"

Demyx stood on his tippy toes, pushing his stomach into Zexion's back as he leaned over his lover to yell at his cousin. "You told me to!"

"Demyx, stop! You're getting me wet!"

"Did anyone hear me tell him to do such a thing?" The cousins ignored Zexion. As if to intimidate him, the younger redhead shot a look at Rude. Nobody spoke up. Not because Rude was actually intimidate, hell no, he just had a soft spot for kids. True, the two people fighting were only five years younger than him, but their pouting seemed to make them even younger. "See!"

"Because you said it in _German!_ Those saukerls don't speak _German_!"

"That means pig." Cloud said, proudly.

Demyx just whined, hugging himself to Zexion while the shorter man started smacking his boyfriend's head, trying to get him to let go. "I _said_ you're fucking wet, Demyx. Get off of me."

"You're German?" Reno asked. Axel turned around, nodding.

"Jewish, too. Opa and Oma – our grandparents, I mean – escaped Treblinka during WWII. Well, they were set free by the allies. You'd think that would make them hate the German language, but they pushed us to learn it, regardless."

As if the entire plot had been remembered, the whole _you jump out a second story window and I'll ask him why he didn't come_ _to my party _plot, Axel turned to face the redhead behind him. Reno was making his way to the side of the pool, unbuttoning his white shirt. When he pulled himself up so he was sitting on the side with his feet still dangling in the water (they were already wet now), Axel made his way over as well.

"Did you enjoy the show last night?"

Demyx jumped back into the water, now that the fighting had been stopped, the blond remembered, too. He swam the length, clearly a superior swimmer than the rest, and came up beside his cousin. Zexion was muttering angrily about getting splashed on.

Honestly, the blond thought his cousin was a genius. You can't just say, "I didn't go." without explaining why. And Reno couldn't say yes, because then that would leave an opening for Axel to call him on it, by asking him what his favorite part was.

Reno nodded. "I'd never been to a concert before. It was exhilarating. I mean, I didn't actually _go_, but I watched from my window. 'M kind of claustrophobic and when the people started showing up…" He didn't have to continue, it made sense.

And Axel seemed happy that Reno hadn't actually stood him up. Not really.

"What was your favorite part?"

The real question would be: what part didn't you love? Reno thought the entire show had been amazing. He also wondered how he could possibly say what he enjoyed, without sounding like he was the band's biggest fan.

"I thought it was cool, the way you called Demyx's string breaking."

Axel shrugged, "He usually breaks at least one string per show. Usually we have roadies with a new guitar ready. Forgot to get an extra guitar out for him. Did you know any of our songs before the show?" Ie: Are you a fan of ours? (Reno could read between the lines).

"I've heard your music, but I didn't know you lived here when I moved in." The redhead was proud of our vagueness.

"We've got another show tonight." Demyx stated. "Our friends and families, mostly. Vincent's coming, right, Axel?" Axel nodded.

"I can't promise I'll make it down, but I'll be watching." He pointed to his back window.

Axel smiled. Finally, he asked the question he really wanted to know. "Which of our songs is your favorite?"

"Reno." The redhead looked lazily over his shoulder, toward his partner, who pushed his sunglasses up his nose. "We have to go to the Tower for lunch. The President specifically asked for you to be there, remember?"

The redhead nodded, standing up on the side of the pool. Water dripped from his lower body as he removed it from the water. Axel seemed desperate, as if his life depended on knowing the answer to his question.

"Which of our songs are your favorite, Reno?"

The redhead tapped his nose and stuck out his tongue. "You didn't play it last night." And with that, he followed his partner back into his house, through the back door. As he walked away he pulled the shirt off of his form. He had the build of Leon or Cloud, but hid his muscles well. Axel was surprised Reno wasn't scrawny like himself.

Maybe ten minutes passed before they saw the men leave, Reno in an identical suit and shirt, but this time dry. He was reluctantly putting a tie around his neck, tying it clumsily, already ready to take it off. Zexion had changed, easily the palest out of all the men in the pool (which was really an accomplishment), and the four of the other men were warming up for a game.

When the elder redhead saw Demyx and Axel watching him, he shoved the tie into the breast pocket of his suit and waved to the cousins. Both waved back.

After the men had gotten into Rude's car and left, Riku threw the ball at Axel's head. It bounced off, and the redhead took it captive. "Come on, Axel." Riku whined. "Me, you and Cloud vs those guys in Blitz."

The blond looked at Axel, both having had thought about it for the last ten minutes, but neither getting anywhere. It was the redhead who spoke what they both were thinking: "Which song _didn't_ we play last night."

---

Two hours later, the band had turned to prunes and got out of the swimming pool, had lunch, and were lounging around in different spots around the house to clear their heads.

Riku happened to be sitting on the front porch swing.

During the Blitzball game and lunch, and currently in the attic (which had been made into a sound-proof studio as soon as Axel took over the house), Axel and Demyx were trying to figure out what songs they didn't play last night. Well, they still had the setlist, so it wasn't hard. It was just: the band played each of their favorite songs. True, they had skipped on a lot of the loving ones, because 98% of the love or hate songs on the four discs of the two albums they have recorded, were about Roxas.

Axel would sing them, but when he and Roxas were together, the songs performed better. When they weren't he went through the motions, but his heart wasn't in it. He wanted to be in it, to impress Reno.

In three hours last night, they'd managed to play about 25 of their own songs. Axel had always been a cover whore, and when the singer got to force the band to learn his favorite songs, everyone else got to force him to learn theirs. That meant, they had about 25 songs left to choose from as Reno's favorite. True, they could just play those twenty-five songs, but a lot of them weren't "crowd-friendly." Nobody wants to go to a rock concert in which the slow songs seem to be on repeat. Not to mention, because tonight's Homecoming Party was for their friends and family, they probably would take a lot of requests from the crowd. Last time they came home off of tour, Axel brought all of their siblings (well, besides Sephiroth), up on stage to sing a song with all of them.

Axel and Demyx were trying to wade through the rest of the songs, trying to narrow it down to what _could_ be Reno's song. He was single, so the lovey ones seemed out, but he had good humor (as exhibited when he didn't kill Demyx for pulling him into the pool), so he probably wasn't into the drug-induced, crazy songs, either.

The singer had him pegged for a heavy metal type of guy, which meant he would probably only know the "radio friendly" songs, Shiksa, Alive with the Glory of Love, Baby Girl I'm a Blur, but they played all the "radio friendly" songs last night. That meant that he _must_ be a pretty big fan.

The thinking made Riku's head hurt, and honestly, he didn't care about the other redhead. He was a ShinRa asshole, as far as he was concerned. But, equally as far as he was concerned, Roxas would be back early, his last few shows always ended up canceled, the fucking drama queen insisted he was stressed and wanted to come home early.

The only reason Roxas would be stressed would be because his hair went flat. That's all the younger blond had to deal with. Fucking pop stars.

And if Riku had to choose between Reno and Roxas, he would pick Reno every day. In every way the blond failed, the redhead, thus far, had shown great improvement. One, Roxas would have cried and gotten pissed at Demyx, refusing to sleep with Axel for probably a week, if the two of them had pulled him into a pool (while, at the same time, cheating on Axel and flirting with everyone in the redhead's presence, just so he would know what he was missing). Sure, Reno continued his onslaught toward Demyx, but even the stupid guitarist knew he was just messing around.

Reno had gotten _nice_ clothes wet, and he came away from it with hardly a dent in his ego, playing it off as if he had jumped in. And the guy had the right kind of wit, the right amount of cockiness and arrogance, to be a great partner in crime for his best friend.

And when Axel was happy, the rest of the band was happy. A pissed off, depressed singer is torture on a band.

So when the Jenova boy saw the redhead get dropped off, Riku didn't _care_ what Reno's favorite song was. But he cared about Axel, and that was why he got off the swing, leaning over the railing and yelled, "Hey, Reno!"

Rude drove away. The redhead turned to smile at the drummer.

"Hey Riku, what's up?"

It never occurred to the silver-haired man that they'd never been introduced, so Reno shouldn't know his name. People he didn't actually know knew his name all the time. At least he knew _of_ Reno.

"What's your favorite song of ours?"

Reno smirked, holding the upper hand and Riku could tell that the redhead wouldn't give it to him so easily. "I'm not planning on coming tonight, you know. Too many people. You tell Axel if he plays my favorite song, I'm his. I'll do whatever he wants, come to his party, whatever."

The redhead didn't realize the severity of his words until he'd gotten inside. _I'm his._ He basically promised himself to the younger man! Luckily, after reading what he did on the internet yesterday, he was sure Axel would never guess it.

Once Reno went inside, Riku ran up to the Studio to tell Axel the news. The silver-haired man thought his friend would be happy, but he just slammed his head down on the table at the promise of all the things he and Reno could do to and for each other, if only he could figure out the man's favorite song.

---

By the time the concert started, Axel had gone through every single one of the twenty-five songs he hadn't sung the night before, but none of them seemed to fit _Reno_ and all of them seemed to fit _Roxas_. Honestly, though, the redhead was just glad he hated his ex-boyfriend, instead of missed him, as he so often did. The second he started missing the blond, was the second he opened his heart up to be broken again, by the one person who could rip his heart into a thousand pieces, make him lick his own wounds and tape the heart back together again, before handing it once more to the treacherous…

"What are you thinking about?"

Axel turned around, moments from going on stage to perform. He was always more nervous knowing his parents, brother, Demyx's parents, Demyx's little sister, Riku's three brothers… their _family_… were out there. Most of them were used to his dirty mouth, but he still calmed down for his family, not wanting to get smacked by his mother and dragged off to Shul by his aunt. He made sure his golden Star of David was on the outside of his shirt, as opposed to under (though he always wore it).

"Roxas." When the dark haired girl frowned, Axel smiled. "How glad I am that he's on tour and not here, anyway."

The girl was his sister-in-law, his brother Vincent's wife, Yuffie. Though, honestly, Axel knew the girl before his brother did, and they were closer in age. Yuffie was twenty-four, Vincent was twenty-seven. (Axel was twenty-three). They had been dating since Yuffie was eighteen, so for a while anyway. They got married when the band was back from tour in May, when Axel was last committed for being crazy.

The wedding really helped him pull out of the spell.

"Are you pregnant yet, Yuffie?"

The girl frowned at him again, almost a foot shorter than Axel, but smacking him angrily in the chest nonetheless. "You sound like your mother. _Get married, Vinny. Have a baby, Yuffie._ Your brother's too busy to have a kid."

"Don't you have a new album coming out; I'd have to say you're busier than he is." Yuffie had gone to his high school, when Axel's band won Battle of the Bands his senior year, Yuffie's band came in second. They told Yuffie if she ditched the band and marketed herself instead, she would make it huge.

She made it huge, but she never forgave herself for ditching the boys who helped her get there.

"Nope. I love singing, you know I do. But, you know… I love your brother, too." Suddenly she rubbed her short hair, smoothing it down, before grinning and poking Axel in the chest. "Hey, this isn't about me! And you're just jealous because you're never going to be able to have a kid, yourself. I mean, you could adopt, I guess."

Axel laughed, shaking his head. "That's what little nieces and nephews are for." He patted Yuffie's stomach, and she punched his arm, laughing. "Besides, my DNA shouldn't be passed on. I'm too fucked up. Regardless of whether or not I wanted a kid, I wouldn't risk the little thing being mental like me."

Yuffie laughed, despite how depressing Axel was. "Cheer up, emo boy. Don't forget to keep looking. That scrawny bitch Roxas isn't good enough for you. Besides, Demyx told me you're crushing on your new neighbor. Don't worry! I won't tell Vinny you're in love with a _Turk_. God knows he'd try to talk you out of it."

Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't have a _heart_. After Roxas, I don't think I even know what love is. Besides, I just met the guy!"

Yuffie poked at her brother-in-law's nose. "But you've heard about him for years. You could almost say you're his biggest fan!"

The redhead sighed, wondering how Vincent (his brother was possibly more depressing than Axel was) and Yuffie could get along. She was one of the most upbeat, happy people he'd ever met!

"If only I could hack into his computer and see what one of our songs he listens to the most. He promised Riku he would _be mine_ if I sang his favorite song."

"Two minutes, Axel." Sora said, tapping the redhead's shoulder warningly. The redhead nodded.

Suddenly, Axel gave his sister-in-law a grin. "Well, actually. I do have an idea… and you're going to help, Yuffie." The girl nodded, anything to be a partner in crime! "Get Kadaj and Kairi. Who else is in a band here?"

"Zack brought Aerith." Yuffie said.

Even Axel looked excited. "Okay. Get Kadaj, Kairi and Aerith and the four of you get ready to sing."

As the redhead rushed on stage with the rest of his band, the short girl ran to put the plan in motion.

---

Reno definitely had less to drink. At eight, when the band started, he only had two beers in him.

He realized he could go down there, after he let it slip that he was a fan, there was no reason to deny himself the company of the other redhead. It seemed Axel would be unrelenting in his flirtation, which would only kill Reno, were he to deny himself the simple pleasures in life. Namely, the redhead.

Luckily, he had a reason to stay here: he wanted to hear his favorite song. And that meant, until Axel found out what the song was Reno held the cards. The elder redhead wasn't one to give up dominance. No, if he was going to court Axel, _Reno_ would be doing the courting.

Settled in for the night, Reno had abandoned his shirt almost the second he got into his house. He changed into baggy shorts moments later. It was too fucking hot for clothes, and the alcohol was only giving a fake-illusion of even more heat. With the window open all the way, the screen removed (hey, everyone knew he was watching, why not?) he was glad the nights air was cool.

With less need to impress his fans, as they were people who had known him before he was famous, Axel was wearing a white t-shirt, advertizing a different band, and jeans. His hair was calmed down a bit, less spiky. They started without any introduction, one of their own songs, one from the night before.

Reno grinned. Although Axel couldn't _possibly _see through the lights and into Reno's window, every so often, the singer looked up at him, shooting him sexy poses with his mouth open. As opposed to the night before, Axel kept an Amp on stage with him, only drinking water when his throat couldn't handle the sweetness any longer.

The sugar stuck to his throat, making his voice different than the night before, not raspier, but maybe more raw. He wasn't as worried about pitch as he was being loud, being heard, having attention on him. As if last night was to show everyone the Media Axel and tonight was how he truly was. It seemed like a private moment that Reno was invading.

He also seemed to be making his held notes, instead of belts like last night, almost like moans.

Reno groaned. The fucking tease.

---

An hour later, Axel called a time-out. Apparently you _can_ do that.

"Hey, hey. Wait. I need to ask you guys how you're doing tonight." The crowd cheered. Axel grinned and looked at Demyx. He had filled his cousin in with the plan just moments before stepping on stage. The blond knew this was his cue.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Demyx called. "How many people out there know about Axel and Roxie?"

The crowd booed. This was, after all, Axel's friends and family. Cloud's parents weren't there; they had all but disowned the older two boys when they sided with the redhead in the never ending war between the "lovers."

"Well, because Axel is one-hundred percent back on the market, I thought it would be a good time to throw him to the wolves. So are there any girls out there who might want to try and mend Axel's broken heart?"

Demyx noticed his sister's friends all seemed to be freaking at the chance to kiss their favorite singer, but he ignored them, shielding his eyes from the lights to pick out someone appropriate.

Axel stood back, looking too, hoping to get a glance at Reno. He could see the man's silhouette in the window. Good. He was still watching.

"Why not Yuffie? You're looking awfully hot tonight."

As if surprised, the dark-haired girl looked up at her husband, asking permission. He just rolled his crimson eyes, as if to say, _you better know what you're getting yourself into._ The girl stuck out her tongue at him, and bounced happily on stage.

As Yuffie walked to the center of the stage, it was obvious she was used to the spotlight. Well, she'd played Warped Tour before, too.

"Yuffie, are you pregnant, yet?" Demyx asked innocently into the microphone.

The short girl growled, aimed at her cousin with a shaking fist, but Axel grabbed her around the waist. Bending down (almost ridiculously, she was so short in comparison), the redhead forced his lips against his sister-in-laws.

It was mostly a stage kiss, not a serious one, and everyone could tell it was just setting up the next part of the concert. Knowing Yuffie's music, most people were unsurprised to hear the drum beat intro, followed by Axel breaking the kiss, grinning at the crowd as he walked away, nervously.

"_This was never the way I planned… Not my intention."_

The laughing was almost too loud to hear Axel sing his sister-in-law's first hit, until the chorus.

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it!_

_The taste of her Cherry Chapstick._

_I kissed a girl, just to try it…_

_Hope my boyfriend don't mind it."_

When the song was over, Yuffie bowed, and Axel made a show of wiping his mouth free of the cooties. "I have to admit, it was nice. Not like kissing a boy, though."

Yuffie laughed, "I agree! Kissing boys are the best!" She added in a mumbled _"Especially watching two boys kiss!"_ but nobody but Axel, and apparently Demyx, the way his neck light up in a light blush, heard her. She was a yaoi fangirl, for sure.

Their sexuality, or really, Axel's bisexuality with an obvious preference for males (especially if it were more than a one-night stand), had caused real problems at home for a little while. But even he got off easy with what Demyx's parents did. The blond slept in Axel's car for almost a month before Zexion found out and invited him to sleep on his sofa. Once his parents found out he was sleeping at his boyfriend's house, they let him back into the house.

They were all okay with it now, but for a long time it had been a real issue. Demyx having the same boyfriend for five years with hardly a fight between the two of them really helped his cause. Whereas Axel's constant feuding with his lover, and his promiscuity with fans (and Riku), had only hurt his cause. His parents loved him now, accepted him, though honestly, they might not have if Vincent and Yuffie didn't. Or if Vincent turned out to be gay too, which is what everyone expected.

"So, without further ado, I give you Yuffie Valentine, my sister-in-law who is not yet carrying my blood in her uterus!"

"I'll fucking kill you, you asshole!" Yuffie yelled into the microphone as Axel handed it to her. He jumped off the stage and jogged off toward his house in case the girl decided to chase him. He knew he was home free when he heard, "this is a song most girls can relate to, and one I still feel like I'm trying to force on some people. Though now I'm always getting shit about having a baby, I wish I really _was_ one of the boys, again."

"_I saw a spider, I didn't scream._

_Cause I can belch the alphabet._

_Just double-double dare me!"_

On his way through the yard to his house, Sora handed him another amp. Axel thanked his manager, but really felt more like a beer.

When he got level with Reno's house, he saw the other man leaning out window, watching him as he walked. With his thumb, ring and pinky finger, he held the neck of his beer, making a peace sign as a way of waving to the other redhead.

Axel mimicked the movement with his amp, and as he walked into his back door, he saw Reno's eyes reluctantly leave the other redhead to watch his sister-in-law on stage.

The taller redhead was all serious, in recon mode, ready to start Operation Win-Reno's-Affection. Which, technically, started the second Demyx called Yuffie to the stage. Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus as he quickly cut through his house, exiting the front door. He crossed their yards, breathing deeply as he pulled open Reno's front door.

"Moses, Jesus, Allah… don't let him catch me!"

Axel had never been in the house, so he had no idea where the redhead's computer would be. He was instantly shocked with how decorated and clean it was. He went from the foyer to the living room, to the kitchen. There were two empty beer bottles on the table, but they were the only things that looked even slightly out of place. Axel opened the refrigerator, exchanging his amp for a bottle of beer. The trade was fair; Reno drank cheep beer, the caffeinated drink cost more than the bottle of beer did.

Crossing the hall, he found Reno's game room. A pool table was set in the center; the back wall had a huge TV. He had Guitar Hero _and_ Rock Band. The redhead picked up the paddle, turning it sideways to look at the black keys. The light reflected differently off of a finger-print size on each key. He played at least hard, probably expert, and played a lot. Of course, Axel was a God at the game. He'd have to challenge the other redhead sometime when he wasn't trespassing.

"_Thank you guys so much! And don't worry, I'm sure I'll have a baby _someday_. While you're waiting for that, please help me introduce Kadaj Jenova, no likely to sing a song of undying devotion to his mom!"_

"_That's not nice, Yuffie. Although Mother was not around for us, my brothers and I will always love her."_

Without seeing a computer in any of the rooms, he didn't bother looking in the downstairs bathroom, Axel walked up the stairs as silently as he could, begging for protection from various deities.

"_Mama, we all go to hell._

_Mama, we all go to hell._

_I'm writing this letter, and wishing you well._

_Mama, we all go to hell."_

Reno was standing in the room at the top of the stairs. He had one hand in his short's pocket, the other holding a mostly-empty beer bottle at his side. His torso was bare, yet again giving Axel a back shot. One day, Axel swore to himself, he _would _see the front of that bare torso. Unable to help himself, (Axel was the same way whenever he saw Kadaj singing, Axel _had_ taught the boy everything he knew, after all) he saw Reno's hips moving, slightly, in beat with the music.

Axel hadn't seen what Kadaj had been wearing, but if he had to guess, it was leather and it was tight. And, thank God, it was holding Reno's attention.

Unfortunately, it looked like Reno was in his office. The next room was a bathroom, and finally, at the end of the hall, was Reno's bedroom.

Again, it was clean, orderly. There were a lot of books on the bookshelf. The redhead couldn't help but glance at what the other liked to read; he didn't take him as a reader. The bottom two selves were books from work, Axel assumed, as they were on Mako and the Lifestream. Judging by the amount of dust gathered on them, the redhead would be surprised if Reno had ever read the books. (Who has that much dust on anything after moving two weeks previous? Nobody, that's who).

On the next shelf up, there were a lot of classics, all varying in forms of dust-covered and obviously read over and over. again Wuthering Heights? Pride and Prejudice? The bindings weren't even cracked. No way had Reno read these. But the Iliad, the Odyssey and the complete collection of Grimm Fairy Tales must have been favorites. Axel couldn't help but grin. So the man had a hero-complex, it seemed. A fitting desire with his occupation.

"_Thank you."_ Axel heard Kadaj say. _"And now I will be introducing Aerith Gainsborough."_

"_Thank you, Kadaj. That was a lovely song."_ Axel heard the brunet smile. She really was a pleasant person. And as Leon gave a keyboard introduction, Axel realized he'd be glad to live without seeing Aerith's more… upfront side.

Axel pulled himself away from the bookshelf, he was more than halfway done of the time, and wasn't sure how long the band could stall if he wasn't back after Kairi… let alone, he was unsure how long until Reno would need to go to the bathroom or get a new beer and catch him trespassing in his house, obviously cheating his way into a relationship with other man.

Then again, he took being pulled into the pool in his work clothes well. Maybe if he caught Axel, he would take it equally well. It wouldn't be the first time Axel missed his own concert because he was engaged with… something (more appropriately _someone_) else. Axel shook his head. FOCUS.

"_I'm craving for you…_

_I'm missin' you like candy."_

And great, the first chorus was already over.

Luckily, a sign from whichever deity Axel put his faith in the most, which honestly could be anyone from Jesus to Kali, Reno's computer was sitting open, on a desk in the corner. When Axel crossed the room, leaning over the desk to tap on the bar-thing to wake the computer up, he was even more elated to see that iTunes was minimized.

With a smug smirk, he took a pen from the desk, getting a post-it note from the other side. Axel went to the automatic playlist "Top 25 Most Played." Seeing Reno's favorite 25 songs actually shocked Axel.

Ten of the top twenty-five where _Got it Memorized?_ songs! In fact, all of them, except one, had been played the night before, and half of those were played again tonight. The number one song on the playlist, however, was a song he would never have guessed to be Reno's favorite.

1. "Walk Through Hell" by Got it Memorized?

Axel felt his breath catch in his throat, and he opened the beer, taking a gulp instantly, plopping himself down on the chair at the desk, feeling suddenly lightheaded. He swore he would never, ever play that song again. It was a love song he'd written before he met Roxas, and it was the _one_ song he never allowed Roxas to hear. It was the _one_ song that was sacred to him.

It was the song he promised he wouldn't let anyone hear, except the person who finally made him feel whole again; like he had a heart.

There was _no way_ he would play that song in front of his friends and family. Besides, he doubted the rest of the band remembered to play the song and Cloud, for sure, wouldn't know it. It was written before Cloud joined the band.

Axel looked at the list again. Maybe if he played a couple of the other man's favorite songs, it would make up for it. Excluding his own songs, the rest of the music was surprisingly intelligent and slow. Most of them were about love or heartbreak. Anyone who knew Reno wouldn't have guessed that. He was against love, he would have sex with a person until they started to commit, and he would freak out and break up with them. But just because he was against it, didn't mean he didn't want it. If nothing else, he wanted to love more than anyone. He just didn't know how.

So he constantly listened to love songs, hoping they would rub off on him.

Axel knew the band knew five songs. He was surprised that one of them on his list was the first song the five of them played together, you could say, it was the song that made them famous. He copied them down on four post-its and stood up, grabbing his beer. He was kind of disappointed; he had wanted to please Reno. He hoped this would be enough.

"_Thank you so much for your support!"_ Aerith finished. _"And so last, but not least: here's Kairi!"_

Again, Leon gave an intro, then Axel heard Kairi sing:

"_I'm miss American Dream, since I was seventeen."_

Taking a sip of his beer, Axel peeked his head out of the room. He suddenly thanked God his depression didn't make him just walk out, because at that moment, Reno walked out of his study, and then downstairs. The taller redhead stealthily left the room, peaking down the stairs to see where he had gone.

He heard the front door open, and quickly booked it downstairs, worrying less about being quiet than getting down there. He took the steps loudly, two at a time, grabbing the banister at the bottom to take a sharp left into the game room. Thank God, as soon as he planted himself against the wall where he wouldn't be seen, Reno walked back inside.

"Kairi, man. Whatever that brat's doing better be worth me having to sit through _Kairi_ sing."

Axel smiled, unable to help himself as Reno muttered, walking into the bathroom next door to the game room. Axel and Kairi had been rivals growing up, and whenever he found someone who disliked her as much as he had, he instantly liked that person.

Once Reno shut the bathroom door (even though he was home alone, with nobody around to walk in on him, Axel always wondered why people did things like that), the redhead left the house, cutting through the lawn between their houses to get back to the stage.

---

When Reno left the bathroom to grab another beer, he was at least grateful that the teeny-bopper was singing so he could grab another drink without missing Axel. He was surprised to look out his window, seeing the redhead cutting through their lawns, head thrown back, drinking his alcohol with a sense of accomplishment.

But… that wasn't the brand Axel liked. That was _Reno's_ favorite.

Throwing the refrigerator open, with prey-like wonder, knowing that the predator wasn't out to do any real harm, Reno was delighted to see the amp in the beer's place. _Trespassing, are we?_ Reno chuckled. _You just kicked the game up to a whole new level!_

He thought about drinking the sugary drink, but already the can became a trophy. It was sentimental. That, and what's worse than mixing sugar and beer? Grabbing his own beverage, he opened the top on the side of the door before pocketing the top and marching upstairs in delight, wondering what his doppelganger was planning next.

---

On the way to the stage, Axel grabbed Zexion's arm. "Does Demyx have his violin up there? Do you know?"

The shorter man nodded. "He asked me to bring it down for him an hour before it started." Then he smiled, "Are you going to play a song with it? He loves playing the violin in the band."

Axel just grinned and climbed back on stage. Kairi had finished, and although the deviation was a nice surprise, the crowd seemed happy to have Axel back. Axel stuck a post it to Riku's snare, Demyx' microphone stand and the amp in between Cloud and Leon. His own he put on the ground, stepping on it to make it stick.

"Alright." Axel said, removing the microphone from the stand. Leon paled slightly at the new set list. He had keyboard parts on three of the songs and he'd been playing guitar all night. He quickly started setting up his keyboard for the songs. Demyx looked excited; two of his personal favorite songs were on the list.

"Well." Axel put the beer on an amp next to him, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand. "I can't play your favorite song, but I hope these five will make you come down after, anyway." Demyx stepped on one of the foot pedals in front of him, giving his guitar a testing strum before nodding at Axel. He was ready for the intro.

"Oh, and you're music is all so depressing."

With a look, Demyx and Axel started at the same time:

"_I'll start this broken heart,_

_I'll fix it up so it will work again._

_Better than before."_

Even Axel gave the song a depressing edge, which made it all the more painful to witness. Every time he said the word "heart," he put his hand over his chest, as if he had to remind himself that he did still have one.

"_I'll destroy this useless heart._

_I'll fuck it up so it'll never beat again._

_Not just for me, but for anyone."_

Reno felt his own heart tug painfully at the redhead's depressed look. Although it was beautifully covered, Reno hoped the other man picked happier songs for the other four.

Without skipping a beat, Demyx, Cloud and Riku started on the next song. Once the intro was done, Leon started the piano part, then Axel sang.

"_I watched the proverbial sunrise  
Coming up over the Pacific and…"_

The blond guitarist seemed unable to keep still, and the way he suddenly came to life, proved to the crowd that this was one of his favorite songs. He left his own mic, he and Axel meeting in the middle of the stage, when the song quieted down, with only Axel singing in a lower octave. The redhead rarely shared his mic with anyone, but he held it out to his cousin, allowing him to sing the next part:

"_Stop right there._

_Well I never should have said that.  
It's the very moment that  
I wish that I could take back."_

After that song, the band stopped.

"Whoa! I don't think I've ever seen Demyx that happy." The blond took his guitar off, sitting in its spot while he picked up his violin, running a few notes to make sure his bow was rosined properly and it was in tune.

"I really like that band." Demyx gave a thumbs up to the crowd, but really, it was to Reno. "All Zexion listens to is scream-o crap."

Axel laughed, if the emo verbalized a protest, they couldn't hear it. He shot a look at Leon. "You good?"

Leon hit some keys on the keyboard, hitting a chord. It sounded like a stringed instrument, though most couldn't tell if it were a violin or a cello, he played a low chord. "Do you want me to die? Three out of five piano parts?"

"Quit your bitchin', Leon." Axel laughed. "You're a piano performance major. I have no sympathy."

"Dick." Leon smirked. He was ready.

"Well, we've been working on a cover of this song for a little while now, another of Demyx's favorites. We were going to wait another few weeks before we performed it for anyone, but I guess we can make an exception for you."

The crowd yelled excitedly, thinking it was their treat. The singer flashed a smile at his neighbor's house, silently telling him it was for _just_ him.

"On three." Axel said. Riku gave the floor tom three hits and Leon and Demyx started playing. There was half a second before the song was recognized, and yet again, the crowd seemed to go wild.

"_I used to rule the world_

_Seas would rise when I gave the word_

_Now in the morning I sleep alone_

_Sweep the streets I used to own."_

At first Reno had been drawn to Demyx's playing. He swayed back and forth, eyes closed, totally _feeling_ the music. It was like he was a king, himself. When Axel started singing, half an octive lower than his normal singing voice, Demyx's playing was forgotten. It was obvious Axel was a Coldplay fan, he moved around the stage like Chris Martin.

Reno had even forgotten Axel being Jewish until he sang the chorus, instead of gripping his chest as he often did when he was feeling the music, he closed his hand around the Star of David around his neck.

"_For some reason I can't explain_

_I know Saint Peter will call my name."_

In their own songs, they often did parts in which the entire band would vocalize. It was something else to watch the four of the instrumentalists lean into their microphone, all of them with eyes closed, singing the "Oohs" of Viva la Vida.

At the end of that song, the band had to stop again so Demyx could get his guitar. Reno couldn't hold out any longer. He was outside before Axel started talking.

"This next song isn't my favorite by O.A.R., but until someone picks up the slack and learns how to play the alto sax, we're not going to be able to play a lot of their songs." Axel paused, shooting a nasty look at the bassist. "Cloud!"

"Don't you Cloud me! I play the bass and the cello _and_ I sing." The blond ran his hand through his hair. "You just sing."

"But I _can_ play the bass, and the guitar, and the piano _and_ I sing."

"Oh yeah?" Leon suddenly said. "Bass, guitar, piano, sing, and trumpet."

They all looked at Demyx. He just said, "if it has strings I can play it." He clearly won.

For the first time all night, Riku said something: "Yeah, but none of you can play the drums. That means all of you are replaceable!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway. Shattered."

The band started playing, and Reno pushed his way toward two people he recognized in the middle of the crowd. Vincent, Axel's brother and fellow Turk, and Zack, a member of SOLDIER. Well, Yuffie was on Vincent's shoulders (she'd be too short to see if she were on the ground) and Aerith was next to Zack, so technically he knew four people.

"Reno!" Zack exclaimed, instantly casing him in a strong hug. The dark-haired man was a naturally happy person, but the redhead would bet that the extra-niceness was thanks to the beer in his hand. "I heard you lived next door!"

Vincent nodded his welcome.

"They're damn good, aren't they?" Zack continued. "Though they don't usually play all this type. I think Yuffie said something about…" With a look at the girl shaking her head behind Reno, he let his sentence die. If Vincent knew about Axel's desire to impress the Turk, Reno would be getting hell.

"About what?" Vincent asked.

"About me not holding my alcohol!" Zack smiled, pumping his fist in the air triumphantly; pleased he avoided spilling the beans.

"_How many times can I break till I shatter?_

_Over the line, can't define what I'm after._

_I always turn the car around."_

"You're brother's good." Reno couldn't help but murmur.

Vincent looked down at him before raising his own bottle to his lips. His red eyes seemed duller. Reno wondered how much his fellow Turk had had, and on a work night, too!

"He is good. You should tell him. He has no self-confidence." He looked back to his younger brother on stage, singing his heart out. "He's getting better. Pills help."

"Pills?" Reno wondered, but thought back to _Got it Memorized?_ songs. Oh yeah, Reno remembered. "He's bipolar, right?"

Vincent just nodded.

It was only about nine-thirty when the band stopped again. "This is going to be our last song."

A lot of the people in the crowd booed. Reno booed as well.

"Well, after that we're gonna turn this stage into a karaoke thing, so stop your bitching!" Axel flashed a million dollar grin at the crowd. "We can't have a crazy friends and family reunion of we're up here all night!"

Leon hit a few notes on the keyboard. It sounded like a piano again.

"Riku, ready?"

The silver-haired man nodded.

"If anyone besides my brother has been a fan of us from the start, they'll know that this was the song we played when I won the seat for the spring concert. Which was also the first time a record label became interest in us. Without this song, we wouldn't be here today. I guess that's why I'm so surprised you liked it too."

"Who the hell is he talking to?" Vincent asked. "He always did that when Roxas was around, have a private conversation with himself to the crowd."

"Roxas?" Reno asked.

"His dick of an ex-boyfriend. They've basically been dating on and off for the last five years. Met in high school, Roxas Strife, you know that teeny-bopper. Always played on Disney channel." Vincent shook his head.

"You watch Disney channel?" Yuffie asked innocently.

"The fucking _point_ is, that asshole better not be around." Vincent's hands crossed over Yuffie's legs in front of him. "I hope Axel's found a new boyfriend and he's not losing it. Maybe he thinks Roxas is here."

Reno smiled, knowing who the singer was addressing. It was kind of thrilling, like he was the boyfriend of rockstar. And for the first time, when Reno thought of being someone's boyfriend, the thought didn't freak him out.

Their last song started. The acoustic version of Alesana's Apology.

"_Sweat drips in my eyes._

_Screams of lust we cry_

_Tonight, you are everything…"_

Riku was screaming. It was perfect. Leon's piano was brilliant. Cloud was doing back-up vocals.

"_I'll lose myself in anguish  
For __tonight…  
Help me get over you."_

Axel remembered that first time they performed this song. Roxas was in the crowd, they had just met the day before, he was belting the song to win over Roxas. It seemed to work, and now, as he sang the song again, the day after he met Reno, he hoped it would work again.

(But he hoped Reno would be nicer than Roxas).

"_In my mind blood drips fro__m your eyes_

_A beautiful last goodbye."_

And as he finished the first time, Axel simply dropped the mic and walked off stage.

---

The crowd was dispatching. Not leaving, just moving to get more alcohol, go inside or go swimming. The younger kids were thrilled by the thought of swimming after dark, and Axel's mom was being the Jewish mama hen, made sure each of them were safe.

Axel walked though, finishing the beer he had taken from Reno's, thrilled that the redhead liked his band so much. At the same time, he was sad. He'd wanted to befriend his doppelganger. He wanted to switch lives, for one day, he wanted to be the hero Turk. But no _friendship_ no "grass is greener on the other side" fantasy of being perfect, like his brother, was worth his one sacred song.

"Hey Valentine. Nice show."

The voice, so eerily similar to his own, made him stop and face his house. Reno was leaning against the side of the porch, right before the steps. With a grin, he extended his hands, in one hand, one of Axel's beers, in the other, one of Reno's. The shorter redhead let the singer choose.

Axel chose his own, but grinned.

"Hey Reno, you made it."

---

Songs:

1.) What Axel sings after kissing Yuffie is "I kissed a girl" by Katy Perry, but Axel's cover sounds more like the _Attack Attack!_ version than that Katy Perry.

2.) Yuffie's song is "One of the Boys" by Katy Perry, as she is this story's… Katy Perry. A tidbit, this is my favorite KP song.

3.) Kadaj is both MCR and Panic!, because I can't find anyone better to do either. This song is "Mama" by My Chemical Romance.

4.) "Candy" by Mandy Moore is Aerith's song. Get it? Cause she was the voice actor… okay, never mind.

5.) Kairi is Britney Spears. The song is "Piece of Me."

Songs Axel sings on Reno's playlist:

6.) "Broken Heart" by Motion City Soundtrack

7.) "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" by Relient K

8.) "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay (Demyx would love this song, too, I think.)

9.) "Shattered" by O.A.R. (another Tidbit, Axel's favorite O.A.R. song is I Feel Home.)

10.) "Apology (acoustic)" by Alesana. I didn't like Alesana for a long time, but I'm starting to get into them. So the band is starting to like them too! Haha.

PS: Crazylittlemonster – I told you chapter 3 would have that song and I lied. Chapter three became too long, so I pushed it back a chapter to 4. Don't worry. It's in there, though!

---

Scene from the next Gives You Hell:

_Walking to the window, he peered into his neighbor's back yard. Axel and Riku were sitting on the back steps, just hanging out. Every so often, the taller redhead looked at his neighbor's house, in various windows, hoping to get a glimpse of him. He looked three windows to the left of where Reno was spying on him._

_It was a peaceful twilight. Silent, except the sound of grasshoppers and a kid skateboarding down the street at the front of their houses. Perfection._

_Suddenly, Sora stuck his head out the window, looking confused and anxious. "Axel, get inside the house, _now_." This made the silver-haired teen stand up, pulling at the now confused and anxious looking Axel's arm. The redhead stood up as well._

"_Why?"_

"_Fucking Roxas is coming."_

---

Author's note: Please. I stated it before, and you can chalk it up to it being a pet peeve of mine, but please review, especially if you're going to "Story Alert" this story. If you like it enough to want to keep reading, why not just tell me that? It makes me feel better (and like I'm writing for something other than to put words on a page). And a happy writer is always bound to write more, faster. So it's win-win.

… Please?


	3. From Purgatory to Hell

**Gives You Hell**

By: Tomi Sama

**Chapter 3: "From Purgatory to Hell"**

**Pairings:** Dominate: AkuReno, LeonxCloud, RikuxSora, Zemyx.

Others: Mentions of past (and current one-sided) AkuRoku, also a wee bit of one-sided RufusxReno, because I couldn't help myself.

**Warnings:** Yaoi. Which means boy on boy. There's a LOT of Roxas hatred. Language, Drug Use, you know, that stuff. Probably more angst this chapter, a little bit, anyway.

**Word Count:**10,486 excluding disclaimers and stuff.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything at all. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or the multiple Final Fantasy characters I mention. I also don't own the songs mentioned in the song.

**Author's Note**: This may SEEM like filler, especially the beginning. It has a purpose, though. I wanted to show how the band was getting used to Reno, and how work was for him. I assure you that it has a point in the future. Trust me? Please? ALSO: I'm sorry it's been almost a year. Most of this was done last year, but the final touches and editing were finished this summer. College keeps me wicked busy, though. If you keep reviewing, I'll try not to abandon it for another year =P

* * *

Reno had always loved work. A natural born trouble maker, an instigator of fights; something about the thrill of the hunt always made him base his life around work and the people he spent his day with. Even on the boring days, which happened a lot more often than their exciting counterparts, Reno would be happy knowing that soon enough, him and Rude would be attacking, kidnapping or causing other sorts of mayhem (Reno's favorite form of mayhem was blowing shit up, call him a pyromaniac, but something about a person's belongings being destroyed in an inferno really drove home the message the Turks wanted to make).

Now that he and Axel were friends, work meant nothing to him. He lived for five PM. He would jump into his car and drive home knowing that something more than video games and beer were waiting for him. Though often, video games and beer were what the two redheads often spent their time doing together. At first, the night Reno came down to congratulate his neighbor's performance; it seemed kind of awkward for both of them.

It was awkward for Axel because he had been compared to the other man since he was a teenager; the other man was a constant reminder of how he had been failing at life: Reno was a Turk, he was a Savior and Axel was wasting his life with music. It was awkward for Reno because for the past four years, this man had been his favorite songwriter; without Axel's music, he might not have been totally able to deal with the numerous bad relationships he found himself in: knowing that someone else out there was having the same bad luck made the blows more bearable.

They were in awe of each other at first. By five-thirty Monday afternoon, the awe had been replaced with a mutual feeling that they'd been friends in a past life. After a week, even the band seemed more than happy to have Reno around. Zexion eventually forgave Axel for attempting to molest Demyx. And as Riku put it, eating dinner the band ordered from the local pizzeria, a rabid baboon would be a better person to have around than Roxas.

Today, the work day seemed extra unbearable, knowing that Axel was with Sora going over band stuff until eight tonight.

Tomorrow he was going to be gone until six to straighten out crap at the record label before they could start recording.

Wednesday he had therapy until seven.

But tomorrow morning Reno was going to over to the neighbor's before work, apparently Zexion made breakfast for whoever was up before his nine am class. Axel had to get up that morning to finish stuff up with the record label for their new album and…

"Reno."

The redhead looked up from his computer screen. He'd been shifting through documents of sightings of Sephiroth for the past two days. Sure, the guy was a renegade SOLDIER, bent on using the world's Lifestream to destroy said world, but was he really worth all that manpower?

"Yeah, boss?"

Rufus ran a hand through his blond hair. He seemed uncomfortable with the nickname, even though the redhead had been calling him that since day one. Even when Rufus' father was the president of ShinRa, he called the son "boss." The guy was cute enough; flattery and flirtatiousness was only bound to help Reno get a promotion, as well as pass the day a little quicker. But the Sephiroth shit had Rufus really freaking out, and Reno knew he hadn't been there for his boss.

"Any luck? On Sephiroth, I mean." The president leaned against the redhead's desk, casually, crossing one of his ankles over the other, folding his arms in front of his chest. "The Jenova boy, the one in the band, did he know where Sephiroth is?"

Reno shook his head. The silver-haired man had been dying to talk about his older brother, he told Reno that Sephiroth sent him a few letters a year, but his other brothers didn't know about it. He even confided in the redhead that Cloud was his half-brother. Apparently, it was _only_ a secret from Axel and Demyx.

"No. His mom took Sephiroth away from his brothers when he joined SOLDIER, they know less 'bout him than we do."

Rufus made an annoyed grumble, as if it were Reno's fault Sephiroth was missing in the first place. The redhead leaned back in his chair, putting his hands under his head, sighing quietly. As long as the president stayed around, Reno was killing time slightly faster. He was aware that Rufus was watching him, but he shut his eyes to the onslaught. Looking was free, touching would cost the president. Reno smirked at the idea, as ridiculous as it was.

"Where's your tie?"

Reno opened an eye, grinning. "I never wear a tie."

"We have a dress code for a reason, Reno." The president stood back up, brushing the front of his white suit off as if speaking with the redhead made him dirty. Reno would be offended if he didn't know, for a fact, that the president thought Reno was good-looking. Last Christmas the blond had too many drinks and spilled the beans to Rude, not knowing Reno was standing behind him. "Make sure you've got your tie, tomorrow."

As Rufus started walking off, Reno stood up, grinning although the blond couldn't see. "C'mon, sir! You know I look good without a tie."

Reno heard the other man chuckle, waving his hand dismissively. "Everyone looks better in a tie."

The redhead sat back down, deciding not to inform his boss that he wasn't wearing a tie either. Reno looked at the clock in the corner of his monitor. He gave a mental fist-pump when he saw Rufus had killed almost ten minutes! Only three hours until he got to go home!

* * *

Although Reno was on friendly terms with the other members of _Got it Memorized?_ none of them really seemed to enjoy his company outside of the idea that he was Axel's new friend. When he pulled into his driveway, he was surprised to see Demyx sitting on his stoop.

"Hey." The redhead stated, standing before the blond. Demyx stood up, he had an acoustic guitar in each hand and a grin plastered on his face that meant whatever he was doing, it was against someone's wishes. Probably Axel's. Reno had to give it to the blond, if someone told him not to do something; it only drove him to do it at any cost.

"Hey Reno." Demyx extended one of the acoustics. Reno took the instrument, unlocking his front door and letting the blond come inside. As if he owned the place, Demyx went into the living room, making himself comfortable. The redhead was about to ask him what he wanted, when he started strumming a song Reno never thought he would hear.

Walk Through Hell, his favorite _Got it Memorized?_ song, ever. Hands down. No contest.

He didn't finish the song, and he hadn't sung when he should have. Instead, he patted Reno's couch, inviting the redhead to join him. Mesmerized, Reno sat down.

"It took me all week, but I finally got Axel to tell me what your favorite song was." Demyx took the guitar from Reno's hands, putting it on his lap, instead, as it should be played. "Have you ever played the guitar before?"

Unable to speak, knowing what Demyx was doing, he shook his head.

The blond just smiled, taking Reno's left hand to place on the proper chord. "I'm not a very good teacher, but I'll try." With his right hand, he extended a pick. The redhead took it and strummed the chord. "Oh, and don't tell Axel. He'd kill me if he knew I taught you."

Reno gave him a doubtful look.

"No lie. He would chase me down the street, drag me back to his house, chain me in the basement and starve me for weeks and weeks while he cut once inch squares out of my flesh and fed them to me. I would get a nasty infection, but he'd get me antibiotics just to keep me alive to kill me later. He'd end up strangling me." As if for emphasis, Demyx's hands reached up, strangling an invisible man in between the two men, violently, growling angrily as he did so. "Axel's not above murder."

The redhead laughed. "You're exaggerating."

"Maybe a little bit." Demyx put his hands back on his guitar, playing the intro to the song once more. "Just a little."

"Why would he kill you?"

"It's his sacred song. It's like, the one song he didn't write about Roxas. It's the one song Roxas doesn't know exists." He showed him the next chord; Reno clumsily mimicked the movement with his hand. He attempted before Demyx extended his hand again, moving the redhead's fingers to the correct position. "He swore he'd only ever play it for the person who made him feel like he had a heart again."

Reno strummed; thrilled by the sound of music he created. "Then why are you showing me?"

"It feels like the right thing to do." Demyx showed him the next chord, and this time, Reno got it right on his first try.

* * *

Breakfast had been amazing.

Reno showed up promptly at seven, ringing the doorbell although the band had been telling him for a week to just walk in. It seemed to be too much of an invasion of privacy; Reno couldn't bear the thought of walking into someone's house uninvited. It reminded him too much of work, where he often broke into and entered people's homes without their consent.

Through the screen door, he saw Demyx clumsily walking down the stairs. He pushed the screen door open for Reno, shooting him an annoyed look with the corners of his mouth slightly raised for a second; it was an exhausted attempt at a smile. Reno smiled back.

He followed the blond into the kitchen, where Cloud and Leon were already sitting at the table. Leon was dressed; he had class in an hour, and was sipping coffee, reading the paper. Cloud was wearing pajama pants with his head down on the table, hand around a coffee mug; Reno wasn't sure if the man was asleep or not.

"Where's Riku?" Reno asked quietly, so as not to disturb Cloud.

Leon shrugged. "Home. It's Axel's house, not the band's. We only stayed because Zexion was cooking breakfast, but we usually stay at my house." He gestured to Cloud and himself with his coffee. "Demyx's little sister took over his room after he left for our first tour so he's usually here or at Zexion's house. Riku's brothers kept his room the same, and Yazoo cooks great breakfast at eleven-thirty, so the lazy-ass can sleep in." It was the most Reno had ever heard Leon speak.

Demyx walked up to Zexion, who was busily walking about the kitchen, finishing the meal. The blond forcibly turned the shorter man around, pecking his lips briefly before mumbling his good morning. Zexion seemed stressed, but the anxiety melted from his face when he saw the blond yawn, putting his forehead on his boyfriend's shoulder as if he couldn't hold himself up.

"You should do your homework before the night before it's due, Demyx." He scolded playfully. "Go sit in the booth, tea will be done in a second."

Demyx nodded, slowly making his way to the corner-booth that the band ate at. He slid in next to Cloud, leaving room for Reno to sit down. The redhead did sit. Almost the second he did, Demyx laid his head on Cloud's shoulder, the older blond jumping for a second, before crossing his arms, using them as a pillow. Both blonds' breathing deepened as they fell asleep on each other, like kittens.

Leon even snorted into his coffee at the ridiculous (and adorable) behavior.

Seconds later Axel came bursting into the room, dressed and active, though looking slightly anxious. "Tea done?" He asked, picking around Zexion to grab chopsticks. He went over to the pan on the stove, stirring it once before picking something out with the chopsticks, eating it quickly before Zexion smacked him in the chest.

"Go sit down! You'll get your food with everyone else."

"Do I look good, Zexy?" He asked, grinning, spinning around give the blue-haired man a good look at his outfit. "Good enough to seduce the spawns of Satan who are my record company and the handsome…"

Zexion coughed, grinning before stopping the singer, aware of where he was going with the sentence. "Why don't you ask Reno if he wants tea or coffee?"

Turning around quickly, Axel grinned at other redhead, who waved at him. "… Reno!" He seemed surprised the redhead was there already, but played his almost-slip cooly enough. He grabbed the other man's arm, dragging him from the booth. It was too early to protest as the taller redhead quickly slid into the booth, taking Reno's seat next to his cousin, patting the spot to his left. Reno sat down next to the singer. "Would you like tea or coffee?"

The Turk had been raised on coffee. He wasn't quite as addicted to it as Leon (who was refilling his mug, for the fourth time that morning), but he enjoyed his coffee in the morning.

"I'll have what you're having."

"Then you're having tea. Don't worry, you won't regret it. I didn't like tea at all before my throat started hurting all the time on our first tour… when I was like, nineteen or so… and Zexion started making the Oolong stuff."

As if on cue, Zexion placed a small cup in front of each of the redheads. "Smell it first, it clears your nasal passages. Then sip, hold it in your mouth, swish it around a bit, _then _swallow." He placed a cup in front of Demyx, hitting his boyfriend on the head with the rolled-up paper Leon had abandoned.

Demyx jumped, awakened, and started drinking his tea without a complaint. The movement woke up Cloud, who sat up and started drinking his coffee as if he had never been asleep in the first place.

At first, Reno didn't really like it. By the time a bowl and a pair of chopsticks were placed in front of him, he had to admit the tea had cleared up his chest and he felt like he was really _breathing_ for the first time in his life.

The other boys drank some of the broth from the bowl before picking the chunks of stuff with the chopsticks. Reno had never had soup for breakfast.

"What is it?"

"Miso soup." Zexion had pulled a chair up to the other side of the booth, sitting with his feet under him, back on his heels. His head was level with Axel's with the extra few inches under him.

"Tofu?" Demyx asked, holding up a chunk of something. Zexion nodded.

Reno ate enough Chinese take out to know how to basically use chopsticks, but he wasn't nearly as graceful as the rest of them. Zexion must have been using the instruments since birth and Axel was looking through the paper while eating, not thinking about it at all.

He managed about half way before his hands started aching from the awkward position and things kept dropping back into the bowl. Reno tried to play it cool, as if he wasn't struggling, but a light chuckle from Axel told the redhead he'd been caught.

"I…" Reno started but Axel shook his head.

"You're holding them wrong." Leaning over, he took the older redhead's hand in his own, adjusting the sticks to where they should be resting. Reno tried, but he ended up dropping the bottom chopstick out of his hand. This time Zexion laughed.

As if Axel were the only one allowed to laugh at the other redhead's idiocy, Axel shot Zexion a look, grabbing Reno by the hips and pulling him closer. The older redhead was about to protest, when Axel adjusting the chopsticks in Reno's hand again, before putting his left elbow on the top of the booth, pushing their bodies together as he put his right hand over the other man's, holding them in place. Really, Axel was working the chopsticks, Reno was just a passenger.

"Like this."

Regardless, the next bite of soup came easy. Well, as easy as it could be with the singer's chest lightly pressed against his bicep, radiating heat as if he was a furnace.

Satisfied with his teaching skills, Axel let the man finish his meal in peace to practice using the utensils himself, but didn't push him away. Their shoulders touched for the rest of breakfast.

At eight fifteen, everyone was getting ready to leave. Standing at the door, Reno tried to tie his tie around his neck. He was kind of afraid what Rufus might do, if he didn't wear it. But he hadn't used it in so long he couldn't remember how to tie it. (Rude tied it for him at the last luncheon they went to).

Slinging a black and red checkered backpack over his shoulders, Axel stood in front of him, watching as the man unsuccessfully tried to tie the stupid garment. Demyx ran past, yelling for shotgun. Leon followed a few seconds later, mumbling _"Who is fucking stupid enough to challenge you at shotgun in your fucking boyfriend's car?"_

Cloud marched up the stairs, patting Axel's head as a means of goodbye. He put his finger to his lips: _don't tell Leon I'm going back to bed._

When the car drove off, and the redheads were alone in the foyer, Reno gave up. Shrugging, feeling slightly awkward under Axel's intense gaze, he mumbled, "Rufus can kiss my ass."

Axel just laughed, setting the Amp down (apparently, he hated energy drinks his entire life, but when he started being medicated for bipolar disorder, he was walking around in a drug-induced zombie state, energy drinks were the only thing that kept him awake) on the windowsill; he reached out for the material around Reno's neck.

Reno didn't trust Axel with his life, a rockstar wouldn't really make a better bodyguard than a Turk, but he knew the taller redhead would do nothing to hurt him. Either way, he flinched when unfamiliar hands came too close to his neck with something that could strangle him: an occupational hazard.

And Axel was way closer than he needed to be. The shorter redhead took a step back, only to feel his back against the wall. Axel took a step closer, their hips were nearly touching. Was it just him, or did Axel's emerald eyes look like they were trying to decide whether or not to attack his throat and drain him of blood?

If only Reno knew that he was half-right.

Axel's hands expertly tied the garment, years worth of sermons at Temple made him become a pro at looking dressed up when he couldn't care less about it. Actually, he unknowingly agreed with Rufus, he thought most people looked better in ties. He murmured the instructions, trying to keep his mind on the task at hand, and not the urge to yank the man by the tie and force their lips together. That, of course, was why he liked ties so much.

That, and it could be used to tie someone up, once it was used to pull someone in.

Shaking his head, he forced the desirable thought away. He was really enjoying the friendship he was building, and who knew what the friendship would turn into over time, but Axel swore to himself he'd take it slow. After he met Roxas, they started dating after like, five days of knowing each other. Look where that ended him.

(True, he'd already known Reno for more than a week, but the point remained valid).

Axel eased the knot closer to Reno's throat, resting it comfortably against his chest, not too tight, still giving a casual look to the formal outfit. Axel stepped back to admire his handy-work. Reno let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

"How's it look?" The slightly shorter man asked. "Enough to keep my boss off my case?"

Axel crossed his arms, then put a finger to his chin, as if he were thinking. He leaned forward slightly, becoming eye-level with the other man. "You wanted to keep your boss _off_ your case? Shit, son, with that awesome tie-job he's not going to be able to stay _off_ of you."

Reno laughed, leaving the house with Axel behind him. "Don't say that. My boss thinks I'm hot, already." He walked to his car, opening the door but looking at Axel, knowing the singer always had to have the last word in.

"Your boss has good taste, then." The artist winked, opening his own car door. "You _kind of_ look like me, and I'm damn hot." He said _kind of_ with the same emphasis an older brother use when they describe how their identical twin _hind of_ look like them.

Reno laughed again, rolling his eyes as he got in his car. Axel did the same, waving as he drove off. Maybe the work day wouldn't suck so bad, since he already had such a great start to the day.

* * *

It was another long and boring day, but whenever he typed anything, Reno felt his fingers ignite with the pain of pushing his fingers against the metal strings the night before.

He had completely forgotten the tie, the object usually hung heavily across his throat, like a noose, ready to choke the life from him. Axel's expert hands made the garment recognizable, and when Rufus paid him a visit, the President seemed stunned the other man had followed orders, for once.

Rufus had that same glint in his eyes, after he first saw the tie grace the other man's neck, as Axel had that morning. Concentration, slight confusion, but appreciation. Reno didn't know it, but the President, as with Axel before him, was exerting a great deal of willpower to not yank the man by the garment, pulling him into a kiss.

The blond man's lips said "You're right, Reno. You look better without a tie." But his mind said, _"If you wear that tie any longer I don't think I can control myself."_ Grinning, Reno pulled the tie loose of his neck, tossing it on the table. With his eyes on his boss, he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt, surprised with the annoyed sound which escaped Rufus' lips as he turned away, shoving his hands into his pockets. The president locked himself in his office the rest of the day.

It made the day bearable, knowing Demyx would be at his house again to show him more of the song.

This time, however, Demyx was nowhere to be seen. At least he only had an hour to kill by himself.

After exiting his car, Reno felt the weight of the world drift onto his shoulders. True, he was home, but with no Demyx, who was supposed to keep him company until Axel returned home from his parent's house?

"Hey Reno… Ouch! Yaz, not so hard!"

With a look over at his neighbor's front porch, his breath almost caught in his chest. Sure, he'd gotten used to looking at Riku, but looking at his older brother Yazoo really was like looking at Sephiroth. Reno quickly crossed the yard, standing on the sidewalk before the steps. Yazoo was sitting on the top step, fingers working their way expertly in his younger brother's hair. Riku was seated two seats down, leaning his back against his brother as his chin angled straight up, aquamarine eyes looking down over his cheeks to peer at Reno.

"Hey, Yazoo, that's Axel's new neighbor Reno." Yazoo let up on his hair and Riku looked down as his brother braded the loose strands at the base of his skull. "This is my third oldest brother, Yazoo." As if an afterthought, he added. "I'm five out of six." That meant, Reno added to himself, that Cloud was in between as number four.

Reno watched as the elder Jenova put a small rubber band at the bottom of the braids. He looked up at the redhead for two seconds before he started the next strand at Riku's forehead, pulling his brother back into an awkward position.

Yazoo didn't look up as he stated, "He's a Turk."

And Reno thought _he_ was a good judge of character.

"Don't worry, Yaz. He's the best Turk I've ever met. Him and Vincent. They wouldn't hurt nobody."

This time Yazoo looked at Reno, taking in his appearance, possibly trying to intimidate him. Reno knew Sephiroth enough to know that he was a beautiful specimen. He thought Riku had taken his brother's obvious good-looks. But Yazoo took the natural beauty to an entirely different level.

Yazoo tilted Riku's chin back, peering in his eyes upside-down. Riku looked confused for a second, before he blinked, grinning wildly. Apparently satisfied, he let his brother's chin go, only to continue playing in his hair. It was like they were telepathic or something.

"Hey, Reno. Demyx wanted me to let you know that he was sorry but had classes late today or something." He winced when Yazoo pulled his hair too hard, Reno heard the older man hum his apology. "What the f-heck are you and Demyx hanging out for?"

Reno almost laughed aloud. Of all of the bandmembers, Riku had the worst mouth. It was funny that his older brother, who couldn't be more than three years older than him, got the man to clean his mouth up.

"Just hanging out. Played a bit of Guitar Hero. Both of us were basically waiting for Axel to get home."

Riku tried to nod, but ended up pulling his own hair. Bringing a hand to his head, he felt the lines of braids, seeing how much was left to do. "I'll babysit you if you want. I have to go jogging, doctor's orders. I've got maybe fifteen minutes left until he finishes putting my hair into cornrows, but if you want, you can come. Axel usually does, but he's gone."

Honestly, Reno would do anything to get out of hanging out in his house alone until seven. He agreed and left to change. Fifteen minutes later, Yazoo and Riku were facing each other on the sidewalk, next to the elder man's motorcycle. Leaning over, Yazoo put his forehead to Riku's, murmuring something quietly to his younger brother. Riku responded just as quietly, and their embrace ended. The older boy leaned forward, kissing his brother's forehead quickly before getting onto his bike, putting on a helmet, and riding off.

The younger Jenova boy looked over at Reno, unashamed that he saw their ritual, before grinning and walking over to meet him. Riku's hair was cornrowed back, with a bandana over his forehead. A blue one.

"You look good like that." Reno said, only to realize it sounded like he was making a pass at Riku. Luckily, the silver-haired man didn't take it that way and responded simply.

"I know."

They started jogging.

Riku was skinny as hell, but he was weak as hell too. Apparently he wasn't ashamed of only being able to run a block or two before slowing down to a walk. After a mile, they ran to the park around the corner and Riku nearly collapsed on a park bench. Reno went to the nearest convenient store and bought the younger man a Gatorade.

Once he got his breath back, the two of them sat on the bench, Reno taking in his surroundings, Riku in a daze of memories and endorphin.

"We used to come here all the time in high school, me and Axel. We'd come here during lunch and we'd share a cigarette. Sometimes if I was really bad we'd smoke pot to try and dull it, but it never really worked." He chuckled. "I think I've puked my stomach out here more times than I actually _ate_ here."

Reno looked over at Riku, the man had the drink on his forehead and through his shirt the redhead could still see his heart pounding wildly. "Were you sick a lot?"

"Junkie. Withdrawal. Heroin."

"In high school?"

Riku nodded. "I was like, sixteen when I started. Maybe younger."

"Why?"

The silver-haired man shrugged. "Why not? My fucking brothers were weird and I never fit in with them. They only cared about finding Mother and our two missing Brothers. My mom left with Sephiroth, the oldest, so he could join fucking SOLDIER. No offence, but I kind of hate ShinRa for destroying my life."

Reno assured him no offence was taken, considering he was sure the man didn't remember half the horrible shit ShinRa really did do to him. He wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't been injected with heroin for the first time by the company, just to see how the drug might affect the Almighty Sephiroth. Had Reno been five or ten years older, _he_ might have been the Turk to inject the drummer, the thought made him want to vomit.

"My guts are all over this field." He grinned, proud. "I haven't thrown up in two months."

"How long have you been clean?"

"Clean of what? Pot?" He checked his watch. "Eighteen hours. Heroin, though? Five months. Almost died. Sora found me. He always was pretty good at keeping me clean, through bribery. Sometimes sex isn't better than drugs. We had to stop a tour though, cancel a few shows. I mean, it wasn't really a big deal; we've had to cancel more shows for Axel than I can count on my hands 'cause the fucker chooses not to take his pills sometimes. What about you, you ever been on anything?"

Of course, Riku knew the answer to the question. The first time Axel had been mistaken for Reno was when he was buying pot at Vincent's dealer. He just wanted to see how honest the other man was.

Reno nodded. "I smoked pot in high school. They do drug tests at work, though, so I haven't done anything in a while."

Riku nodded back. "You're a good guy."

Reno sighed. If he was a good guy, why did he feel like shit, then?

* * *

Wednesday meant therapy. Reno threw a tennis ball up in the air, leaning back to catch it. Repeat. Axel would only be gone until seven. He only had to kill two hours alone in his house, provided Demyx didn't come to teach him more of the song or Riku needed another jogging partner.

This searching for Sephiroth's ghost was killing him. The man was nowhere to be seen, and let's be honest, he was _the best_ SOLDIER that ShinRa had ever seen. He wouldn't be found until he wanted to be found, if he wanted that at all.

Glancing around at the other desks surrounding his, in a similar style to a police station, he saw Elena was on the phone with someone, chattering happily, obviously not a work-related call. Cissnei was playing something on her PSP, the device hidden slightly under her desk. Rude was sleeping, or he was pretending to sleep to surprise his next attacker, but Reno would bet he was _actually_ sleeping.

Rufus was pulling a Michael Scott, hiding away in his office, looking out from the blinds every few minutes to make sure everyone looked like they were doing _something_, while coming out so often to make a joke, you know, to raise the Turks' spirits.

Suddenly liking the idea, he wondered if this _was_ The Office, who would he be? Clearly he thought he was Jim, he was clearly the most intelligent member of the Turks, as well as the best looking and funniest. But would his natural comic relief talents put him more into a Dwight category?

Nothing against Dwight, but Reno was no fucking Dwight. Dwight shared the most with… Tseng. Tseng was the next in line, under Rufus, and he was constantly playing "whatever you say boss." As if to prove he was right, Tseng was the _only one_ doing something productive. He was currently walking from the printer back to his desk with an arm full of papers. And what would Jim do to Dwight at a day like this in The Office?

Catching the ball again, he gave a quick adjustment to the trajectory and let it fly again.

"Tseng! Watch out!" Reno cried, jumping up from his chair.

Tseng was a great catch, and might have been a dog a past life. There was something about a ball that the man couldn't let go. Unable to control himself (and it's not like Reno chucked the ball at his superior, he simply tossed it in the air, it wouldn't even hit him if he stood still), Tseng moved the papers unsteadily into his left hand, catching the tennis ball easily with his right. With a small smile, he tossed the ball back. However, the sudden switch in position made the papers lose against gravity, all of them crashing to the floor in a violent way previously unseen by the light-weight paper.

Balance had never been Tseng's strong suit.

Reno got less pleasure out of the prank than one would think, way less than Jim ever seemed to enjoy Dwight's suffering, and the redhead set the tennis ball on his desk, making his way over to help the black-haired man pick up the papers. Regardless, it won him brownie points with the second in command and killed ten minutes.

* * *

It was far too quiet at his neighbor's house. The doors and windows on the first floor were shut and locked, and Reno would have figured nobody was there, except for a menacing flutter of a curtain on the top floor. He would have thought there was a burglar, except for the brown hair and fluffy jacket he caught a glimpse of.

It was just Leon.

Reno went into his house, removing his clothes on his way to his bedroom, changing as soon as he got in there.

"_Ouch! Fuck!"_

The redhead ran to his office window, looking out into his neighbor's back yard. Cloud had been on the stage, setting up the sound system up; Reno thought he might be getting ready to start training with the four kendo swords he saw abandoned on the ground. Now, however, Cloud was clenching his chest, doubled over in pain for a moment before standing up, facing the house angrily and removing his hand. At first, Reno thought Cloud had been shot in the heart.

Looking at the house, a gun resting on the windowsill some forty yards away, Reno saw that it was Leon, with a paint gun. The redhead was impressed; it was an impressive shot.

Reno wondered if the blond was more upset over the stinging pain of being shot, or the fact that his white t-shirt had a red paint stain on it.

"_What the fuck, Leon?"_ but Cloud was smiling. Or he was, until Leon shot him again, in the same place. The welt would sting soon enough.

The blond ran this time, covering his head with his arms (knowing his boyfriend wouldn't intentionally shoot him there, but knowing with all his movement, Leon might miss the target of his torso), to Axel's back door. In a fist fight, Cloud could take his boyfriend. In fact, although both were good fighters, Cloud statistically won out every time there _wasn't _a gun involved. Leon was clearly a better shot.

Reaching for the door, the blond whimpered pathetically, seeing the back door was locked. Leon seriously wanted to play. That meant the front door would be locked. Glancing up, still covering his head, he looked for another option. Reno met his eyes, waving his arms, telling the blond to come over.

Cloud ran to Reno's back door, Leon got another two shots to his boyfriend's side before the redhead opened up, ushering the bassist inside. Once safe, the blond ripped off his shirt, surveying his body for damages and plotting the brunet's demise.

Reno tried not to look and tried harder not to say anything. Against his will, he let out an appreciative "whoa!"

Almost confused, the blond looked up, seeing the redhead's eyes scanning his naked torso, and not just the welts that were forming from his dumbass boyfriend. Cloud attempted to make himself smaller; he walked over to the sink, hiding his front from view as he tried washing the paint from his white shirt, giving Reno a good look at the tattoos of the Angel and Demon wings on his shoulder blades.

"You always wear baggy clothes, and the way you drink, I figured you'd have… _fat_ on your body, somewhere." Reno stated.

Cloud looked down, as if having the body of a Greek God was something to be ashamed of. "That's half of the reason why I drank so much back then." _Back then?_ Reno thought. Cloud could out drink Reno two to one (if not more), which was saying something. All of the Turks could hold their alcohol. "Fucking Jenova cells." The blond rung out his t-shirt, examining it for stains.

"I used to be scrawny, you know. I mean, I was on the kendo team, so I wasn't _that_ scrawny. But I hate being this big, without working at it. Alcohol makes you fat, numbs the pain. It doesn't work. Apparently Riku found the magic drug to ruin a perfect Jenova body, but like fucking hell I'm going to get addicted to heroin to spite my DNA."

Reno cleared his throat, taking a sip out of his bottle of water. "What's the other half of the reason you drank so much?"

Cloud looked over his shoulder at the redhead. He hated the Turks, he was the coldest one toward Reno of the group, remembering what they did to him. He started scrubbing his shirt again, looking away. Apparently he trusted Reno.

"Fucking nightmares. As soon as they injected me with the Jenova cells I started having nightmares of Sephiroth. Riku always talks about how great his oldest brother is, but the guy's brought me nothing but trouble my whole life. I only slept when I passed out from too much to drink, until I met Leon, anyway."

He rung out his shirt a second time, studying the cloth once more. He didn't see any red or faded pink left on the white shirt, and he turned to face the Turk, slinging the wet t-shirt over his shoulder and crossing his arms, keeping some of his torso from view.

"Kind of funny we ended up together. I had nightmares, he was an insomniac. Who knew sex cured all things, huh? Since that first night, as long as we share a bed, I don't dream and he actually sleeps."

Reno laughed. You don't stay with someone, faithfully, for five years because sex keeps the demons away. He thought it was cute that Cloud would downplay the love he had for the man who shot him moments ago to mere fuck buddies, when the brief glint in his eyes at the mention of the other man proved otherwise.

The redhead let the topic drop, turning around and motioning for the blond to follow him. "Actually, Cloud, I wasn't offering my house as a haven. You don't seem like the type to just sit back and let anyone, especially Leon, keep you hidden away, praying for mercy." He walked into his game room, opening a cabinet. There were all sorts of weapons in there; real guns, real swords, but the man took out a paintball gun, similar to Leon's.

Cloud grinned, a sight that would send demons running to hell for comfort.

Reno let Cloud use a darker shirt he didn't care got stained and a helmet and sent him on his way. Leon cockily went outside; not knowing the redhead was a fan of the sport. A surprised and uncharacteristic yelp told Reno that the brunet hadn't been expecting it; the redhead saw the impressed grin right before a similar helmet was lowered to mask the scar. A brutal battle lasted almost fifteen minutes. By the end of it, both of them were covered in paint, but didn't seem to care when guns hung limp by the side of their bodies, helmets abandoned at their feet, sharing the first kiss Reno ever had the pleasure of seeing between the two PDA-aphobes.

It was quick, Cloud's fingers gripping Leon's t-shirt at his hip; Leon smearing paint onto the blond's face and hair as he pulled him toward him. When they broke apart from the five-second kiss, the brunet rested his forehead against the blond's, eyes closed, just feeling him there.

Fuck buddies, Reno's ass. What disturbed him most was the empty feeling that stretched from his heart to his stomach, squeezing the organs into a painful knot, and the sickening smile he couldn't keep off his face until they broke apart, Leon running into Axel's house to change, Cloud coming back to give Reno the gun and helmet.

Unashamed this time, Cloud took off the black shirt, exchanging it for his dry white one. Reno set the equipment on the table, he'd take care of it later.

"Hey, have you ever done Kendo before?" Cloud asked, this time leading Reno from the house to meet Leon where the bamboo sticks were. Reno nodded, he had, but only a few times.

A song he didn't recognize came from the speakers on stage when Leon hit play. It was heavier than _Got it Memorized?_ music. Screaming. However, once the singing started, it was a voice he recognized, Shawn Milke. It was Alesana playing.

"What we do is when Shawn sings, we slow down, follow Kendo rules, play fair. When Dennis screams, we attack full force, no rules… well, no intentional hurting."

Leon and Cloud demonstrated, with Cloud taking it easy so he wouldn't intimidate Reno before they started. It turned out to be a beautiful dance, with the slow and vicious parts mashing together to look like a real fight.

By the end of the song, Cloud won and Reno took Leon's place. An hour and a half never went by faster.

Axel looked amused to come around the corner, to find Cloud in a headlock, Kendo sticks abandoned, with the blond clawing at Reno's forearm to let him go. The redhead equally enjoyed watching Reno let up, high-fiving Leon as Cloud rubbed his neck, pouting at the loss, but equally impressed that someone _finally_ beat him.

"I don't think I've seen you guys this sweaty in a while. Reno keeping you on your toes?"

Reno stuck his hands in his pockets, fighting was fun when he was with the other two men, but it somehow made him feel ashamed to have the violence in him when he saw Axel.

"Actually, Cloud won every time we played for an hour. I was only able to best him for the last few times."

Cloud smacked Leon's arm, racing him to the house to be the first one to claim a shower. Reno saw that Leon let Cloud win, after Cloud's humiliating defeat by the redhead's hands, and Reno couldn't help but feel the fist clench over his organs again. He was missing that feeling in his life: that pure love for another soul that you'd do anything for them.

Axel shut off the music, jumping from the stage a few feet from Reno.

"You're stealing my band away." He said, playfully. "Demyx and Riku really like you, and you've even won under the Ice Princes. I'm surprised. I've never found a _friend_ all four of my friends liked so well." The word friend was emphasized the same way a wolf in sheep's clothing told the other sheep he was their _friend_: just follow me behind the trees and we'll hang out. I won't eat you, I swear.

"They're pretty cool." Reno said. "I'm surprised you haven't wanted to meet my friends, as well. It's really only fair."

Axel shook his head, walking backwards to his house. "I've met them all, mostly. My brother's a Turk, remember. Shower up, Reno. Dinner's in an hour."

The sweaty redhead didn't need to be told twice.

* * *

The idea had fascinated him for a while now, as it would anyone who met their no-blood-relation identical twin who happened to live next door. Or at least, that's what Reno would say when he put on the tight black shirt, something he knew Axel would wear, and blow dried his hair upside-down, getting it to stick out like the other man's.

It was still a few inches too long, and his eyes were still blue, but when the redhead put the diamond make-up, in black, on his cheeks instead of the crescent moons over his eyes, he really _was_ surprised how identical they looked.

He wanted to show Axel, but didn't want to freak him out.

Walking to the window, he peered into his neighbor's back yard. Axel and Riku were sitting on the back steps, just hanging out. Every so often, the taller redhead looked at his neighbor's house, in various windows, hoping to get a glimpse of him. He looked three windows to the left of where Reno was spying on him.

It was a peaceful twilight. Silent, except the sound of grasshoppers and a kid skateboarding down the street at the front of their houses. Perfection.

Suddenly, Sora stuck his head out the window, looking confused and anxious. "Axel, get inside the house, _now_." This made the silver-haired teen stand up, pulling at the now confused and anxious looking Axel's arm. The redhead stood up as well.

"Why?"

"Fucking _Roxas _is coming."

The way the two bandmates entered the house, holding each other's hands in a slight panic, Reno couldn't be sure if Axel ran into the house, or if Riku had dragged him. The shorter redhead ran to the front of his house, wanting to get a look at the younger boy. The infamous Roxas Strife, heartbreaker and teenybopper, the love and hate of most of Axel's adult life, was coming for a visit. Reno couldn't wait to see if the boy lived up to his expectations as the world's biggest asshole.

(Reno couldn't help but giggle: if Roxas lived up to his name as being a whore, he might _have_ the words biggest asshole).

If you turn it on MTV, Roxas probably had some catchy-as-hell pop-shit playing within the next two hours, so Reno knew what the kid looked like. Or, at least, what his singing persona looked like. But this surprised him. Sora didn't look like he was twenty-one, but he looked at least eighteen. It seemed that Roxas stopped aging at sixteen. He was shorter than his twin, blonder. He had a black beanie on, with half an inch around it in a black-and-white checker pattern. He had on a long sleeved t-shirt, pushed up to his elbows, also black-and-white checkered. Over that he had on a t-shirt-hoody thing, black, with a white skull and crossbones. He had on khakis and Vans.

At best, he looked like a punkass teenager. If only Reno didn't know how deceiving his look really was.

Stopping at the steps, Roxas stepped on the edge of his board, making it leap into his outstretched hand. He climbed the steps like he owned the place. He tried the knob, seeing that it was locked, before he started pounding. And pounding.

"_Hey, guys. It's me, Roxas."_

Nobody was answering.

"_Cloud, Sora? Hey, come on! Stop playing around. I just got back and I want to see you guys!"_

And pounding.

"_I know you guys are fucking in there! I'm not retarded. There's Cloud's bike, there's Riku's bike, there's Zexion's beat up piece of shit. And I _know_ you're fucking in there Axel. Therapy got done half an hour ago. So just save yourselves the trouble and fucking _let me in_!"_

Pop-stars and their mouths.

Threats weren't working, the blond changed his tactic. He pounded once on the door, setting his head against it as if he were trying to make physical contact with the hostages inside.

"_Please, Axel. I miss you."_

Movement in the upstairs window caught Reno's eye, but Roxas was at the wrong angle to see it. Axel looked confused; he was trying to fight the temptation of Roxas but simply failing. Cloud had an arm around his waist, keeping the redhead's body against his. His other hand was over Axel's mouth, to keep him from screaming out to the blond who tortured him so.

Cloud pulled him away from the window just in time. Roxas rounded the corner, looking at the windows to see if he could get a face to yell at. Each step he took, the blond boy was getting more and more hostile.

Reno's phone rang.

**One new text from Demyx:**

"_Help us! Help Axel! Use Turk powers 2 make Roxas go away."_

_What Turk powers? You want me to assassinate the kid? _Reno thought, catching a glimpse of himself in the window. He _looked_ like Axel.

"_Fine!"_ Roxas ended up screaming, walking backwards toward the stage. _"I'm just going to stand out here screaming until you fucking let me talk to him! Whose brother are you fuckers, anyway?"_

While the blond's back was to him, Reno grabbed a pair of sunglasses and ran out his front door, cutting around the front of Axel's house, to get to the side door on the other side of the building. It was a screen door, which lead to a sun-porch, leading through to the back of the house. The screen door was open, and Riku was standing there, looking confused.

"Axel…" He looked at the eyes, sapphire instead of emerald. "Whoa, fucking _Reno,_ man. You look just like Axel!"

"You know that jean jacket? It's dark; the one Axel wore to the Welcome Home party that first night?" Confused, Riku nodded. "Go get it. Fast."

The silver-haired man ran off. Reno watched Roxas look for a mic, something that could be used on-stage to piss the occupants in the house off enough to let him inside. After the kendo spar, everything had been picked up for the night. Roxas kicked the empty mic stand, it banged loudly against the stage.

"Here… Reno. Why'd you need the jacket, though?" The silver-haired man extended the jean jacket, which the redhead slipped on.

"I don't have his arm tattoo. I hope to God he doesn't lift my shirt to check for the hip one." Lowering the glasses over his face, he looked back at the drummer.

"He might, dude. The hip one is Roxas' favorite. Be careful."

Reno nodded. "How do I look?"

"Like fucking _Axel_, man!"

"Good." Reno marched out of the house as if he owned the place.

* * *

"Cloud, let him go. He's gotta check this out!" Riku had burst up the stairs twice in the past minute, the first time to force Axel out of his jacket without an explanation, the second time to apparently take control of the situation.

"He's going to yell." Cloud said, squeezing his fingers warningly against Axel's jaw. The singer whimpered in protest and in pain.

Riku had never looked so serious as he grabbed the singer's chin, forcing their eyes to meet. "Yell out to Roxas and I'll cut your tongue out. Got it? I don't need to perform with you for the rest of my life. I'd be equally happy bumming at my brothers' house."

Hurt and afraid, Riku was fucking crazy enough to waste his income on something stupid like that, Axel nodded. Riku nodded to Cloud, and the blond let the singer go. He stood up slowly, so as not to startle the two men with Jenova cells, and walked to the back of the house, looking out the slight crack in the window blinds, so he wouldn't be seen by Roxas.

Wait a second. Who was that with him?

"_Reno!"_

_

* * *

_

"Hey, Roxas!" Reno had always been amazed with how similar his and Axel's voice were. When he called out to the blond, as though they were old friends, old _lovers_, he felt that same playfulness he'd heard Axel use with him a hundred times. It felt like his doppelganger was in his head, like they were sharing a brainwave.

The innocent smile Roxas gave as he jumped from the stage, running to Reno and hugging him around the middle proved that it fooled the blond as well. Reno pried himself away from the boy. He was here to make him go away, not seduce him.

"Whoa! Axel, your hair's like, all longer!" Shit!

"Yeah. For a video. They put extensions in it. So why are you here, aren't you supposed to be on tour, still?" The complete switch, accompanied by the crossing of his arms over his chest and stern, angry look confused Roxas. He shrank away from Reno slightly.

"Answer me. Did you skip out early or something?"

Roxas' eyebrows furrowed, a pout forming slowly on his lips without him aware of it. He reached his hand out, brushing it against the arm of the jean jacket, over where Axel's tattoo would be. If, you know, Reno were really who Roxas thought he was.

"Yeah… I didn't feel good." He moved his hand up Reno's chest, forcing the confusion away to give him a small, innocent smile. A whore's smile. His other hand came to the back of Reno's neck, ready to pull him in at any second. "I missed you too much. I had to see you."

Two could play the seduction game.

Reno put his hands on the blond's slender hips, he leaned forward (unknown to Reno, Axel whimpered), murmuring in Roxas' ear, though still loud enough to be heard by the occupants in Axel's house, hiding behind the curtains. "What does it cost to get with you these days? Are you putting out for money yet, or is emotional torture still the price?"

"_Oh shit!" _Riku laughed, slapping Cloud's back.

Cloud grinned._ "That's the shit you should have been saying to Roxas all along!"_

Roxas backed away, stunned. "…Axel?"

"You've seen me, Roxas. I'm well. I'm better than that, actually. I'm fucking _awesome_!" Reno took a step back, waving his hands the way one would dismiss a dog or a slave. "So run along now, Roxie. Go pretend to have pity for someone else you want to mind-fuck."

Leon even made an appreciative _hmm_ to that one.

"_He is my favorite person in the world right now!"_ Demyx said dramatically.

Still, Axel stared out the window. The band wasn't sure if he was pissed at Reno or thinking he was the Messiah.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Roxas threw up his hands, walking away a few paces, before yet again changing tactics. If Reno were prone to anxiety attacks and needed a constant to keep him from slipping into a manic-depressive daze, being around Roxas for more than ten seconds would make him freak out, too. No wonder Axel's bipolar got so bad at times!

"Baby, I just missed you. I know you're mad about last time, but…"

"Mad?" Reno itched his head, knowing the answer but playing dumb. "Why would I be mad?"

"I fucking screamed my ex-boyfriend's name when I came, knowing I was with you! I did it just to piss you off. Bucking bronco style!" Roxas was leaning forward at his hips, screaming bloody murder at Reno. The boys watching from the window couldn't believe it. Roxas was nothing if not collected and in control, one-hundred percent of the time.

"Well, Roxas. One, bucking bronco doesn't work when you're _bottoming_, you total fucktard! How hard would it be, from any position, would it be for me to rip my dick from your greedy ass? You just did it to be an asshole and don't flatter yourself thinking you're smart enough to deceive me. And two, the question remains, why would I be mad if you yelled _Hayner's_ name? I wish you'd keep yelling _Hayner's_ name and go to fucking _Hayner's_ house and bother _Hayner._"

Roxas's face was angry red. He opened his mouth and shut it a few times, unsure how to handle the new, take-no-shit Axel.

"Are we done here, or should I call the fucking police?" Reno crossed his arms, leaning forward, menacingly.

"This Friday. I want my party, you promised. When I came home from this tour, I get a welcome home party on your stage." Roxas crossed his arms back, narrowing his eyes.

"Did we agree to that before or after we had sex on your birthday?" Reno tapped his chin. "Oh, I know. Why don't you go to MC _Hayner's_ house and have him throw you a welcome home party. Because you're not _welcome_ in my _home_."

His face was redder, and Reno knew the look. He was sizing him up, trying to determine if he could beat the shit out of him or not.

"Go ahead Roxas. I'd _love_ for you to give me a reason to pound that pretty little face of yours into the ground." His hands switched from across his chest to his hips, he turned his face to the side, inviting the smaller boy to punch him.

Honestly, Roxas _would_ have punched Axel three months ago at his birthday party. This new Axel was crazy. This was either an Axel who quit taking his pills or was so jacked up on them that he became an entirely new person. Instead, the blond just turned away, cutting through the redheads' yards to get out front.

"You're such an asshole!" He called from the street, a safe distance away.

Reno thought of the perfect comeback, the perfect insult to spit back at the younger boy, but decided against it. He just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Even from this distance, the message was loud and clear to the blond. Frustrated, he threw his skateboard down ahead of him, jumping on and skating off.

Unable to stand his hair down for a minute longer, he gathered the hair at the base of his neck, sliding the band on his wrist into place. He pushed the sunglasses up on his forehead, but still had Axel's eyeliner marks on him. And his jacket. He should probably return that, huh?

But he hadn't stopped to think before, as he watched the redhead burst from the back door, slamming the screen against the railing, how Axel might feel about what he'd said to Roxas. Sure, he made it as obvious as he could that the blond was the spawn of Satan, that he was a lying, cheating whore who was more undeserving of Axel than Reno was (and Reno had always thought the other redhead was beyond his league). But people made bad decisions to get back with their abusive exs all the time.

Time seemed to slow down painfully.

Reno could see that Axel was seeing red. If this were a cartoon, he might be blowing smoke from his nose like a dragon. Suddenly Riku and Cloud burst out the door after him. They were too far away, though, as they ran to hold Axel back. The bandmates apparently feared the same thing Reno was. The redheads would meet before the brothers would get there to save the Turk, as if the Turk needed saving.

He decided he would let Axel hit him, if that's what he wanted to do. Reno deserved it. If not for calling Roxas all those horrible names, then for something else he must have done, or was bound to do, to hurt the band.

The redhead didn't bother to apologize as the singer came within speaking distance. He didn't bother to raise his hands in his defense when Axel was in touching distance. He didn't pull away when the taller redhead gripped him harshly by the back of the neck, forcing their lips together viciously.

Reno blinked. _Wait, what?_

Axel's eyes were closed, so Reno closed his too. The pressure on his lips, which lightened significantly after the first crushing blow, was all he could focus on. That heat. His hands went on autopilot, wrapping them around the other redhead's waist, pulling their hips together without thinking. There was a soft moan that vibrated his lips, he was sure it was from Axel, but it could have just as well originated from him.

Then Axel's tongue poked at Reno's lips, and the shorter redhead couldn't stay submissive. He pushed his back, past his lips, past Axel's lip, running against the other man's tongue as if it had been made for that purpose.

The whole time, the only words in his mind were: _Holy fucking God, I'm kissing fucking Axel Valentine! Lead singer of my favorite band!_

Axel's thoughts were similar: _Moses, I'm finally kissing Reno! After years of idolizing him, he is _finally_ mine!_

They broke apart, hands still digging into the other's flesh, afraid if they let go it would have only been a dream. Both of them had a tinge of fear in their eyes; Reno was afraid of what Axel would say, in response to his cruelty toward Roxas and Axel was afraid of what Reno would say, in response to the kiss they'd just shared.

"About Roxas…" Reno started.

"You're my savior." Axel answered.

Axel started, "And about that kiss…"

Reno answered, "Do it again."

But he didn't wait for Axel to do it again. His hands adjusted, one sliding around Axel's neck, pulling him down their inch or so height difference, to press his lips more gently on the others. The entire kiss seemed slower, less rushed, enjoyable. Unable to help himself, his other hand made its way to the front of Axel's hip, lifting his shirt, slightly, as he ran his fingers over the tattoo he knew was there.

The redheads were too engrossed in their own world to hear the sigh of relief from the half-brothers behind them. Riku put his hands on his knees, grinning as he searched for a better angle to watch the action. Cloud watched as Leon and Demyx approached them, coming out of the house.

"Whoa!" Demyx giggled, when he got close enough. Putting his hand on his chin, he changed his mind. "I mean, _finally!_"

Cloud grinned, eyes flickering from Leon's eyes, to his lips, to his eyes again. His tongue darted out, to wet his lips before nodding. "Finally."

Finally, indeed.

* * *

**Songs:**

None! (Besides mentioning Walk Through Hell by Say Anything).

**Scene from the next Gives You Hell:**

"_I think you should give him that party."_

_Axel froze. "What?"_

_Reno smirked, flashing the same devilish grin Axel had seen right after Demyx pulled him into the pool, as if he had planned it all along. "I think we should let Roxas have his party. Have you guys open for him. Let him run the show."_

_The emerald-eyed man looked confused. Reno put their chests together, whispering his plan into the singer's ear._

_Axel mimicked the look perfectly, almost as perfect as a mirror would._

"_Reno, my darling, I love the way you think."_

Pleaaaaase Review?


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